Altershift
by TheShock
Summary: "My name is Shamir and I'm Captain of the Royal Guard. We have been imprisoned in this forsaken Underground for millenia, and my friend Sans the Royal Scientist hasn't yet come up with something to fulfill King Asgore's orders. This is the story of my universe, and how two humans have changed it until...something terrible happened." [Cover's not mine, it's Wolfberry-J's art]
1. Prologue: A Human's Journey to Nowhere

**Before we begin with the tale, I want to be clear on a few things.**

 **This is not following Altertale's canon rules, nor Storyshift's (even if the partial shift I put down here might be similar to a Storyshift variant).**

 **I know OC & Frisk stories exist, but I want to see how would they fare on a first Pacifist route (at least for Roger, as he's almost an adult and already works in a field).**

 **The other side of the story will contain some links with Ben10's story, especially because after Frisk and Roger's adventure, Chara will follow.  
**

 **Please, do bear with me as I try to keep description and dialogue in key - I'm not usually that good at describing stuff or making good dialogue.  
**

 **In any case...let's get this story started.**

* * *

 _Entry six, June 11th, 1984._

 _I've been wandering the road for three days to reach Ebotton, Kansas, despite the fact people have told me the town doesn't exist on a map._

 _People have branded me as insane when I told them I'm going for this journey, said that a researcher does not venture on mere legends!_

 _Said legend reached my ears first time in the beautiful lands of Bavaria, where an old man told the children about a town that exists somewhere in the New World._

 _A town where a giant mountain loomed in the distance, and it was said to be housing mythical creatures of ages-lost, and that only those with pure hearts could see it._

 _Of course, at first I noted it as a small children's tale, but something kept nagging at me for a time - did the old man went to America and saw something we didn't?_

 _Because I can remember his eyes glistening with a mixture of hope...and sadness?_

 _P.S. Don't forget to find more gas. This is going to be exhausting..._

 **PROLOGUE: A HUMAN'S JOURNEY TO NOWHERE**

 _The sun was rising slowly, basking the dusty road with ember-like rays, and the sky began to shift from the night's darkened blanket to the smooth azure of the day. The desert was as always, empty of any life, except for a few cactuses down the road, and up in the sky, vultures loved to scour for any carcass that was all left by a lost wanderer in these parts. The sunrise revealed a red Cadillac pulled over, next to a dusty and worn sign that didn't keep the full markings of what road was that supposed to be. Inside the Cadillac, a young adult, with brown hair and tanned skin slept peacefully in the backseat, covered by a green fluffy blanket, and he seemed to dream something, as grunts of pain and fear were heard out of him. Next to him laid a torn notebook and a blue pen, no doubt used a night before._

 _The screech of a nearby vulture awoke the tossing adult, sweat bedding over his forehead from the nightmare he had and he took a few moments to adjust to his surroundings. The sun was now half-risen from the horizon, and light was more than enough to uncover the land before him, and while at times the journey seemed disheartening, he convinced himself the tale had to have some grain of truth in it. Placing the notebook and pen in his blue long-sleeved shirt, he descended from the Cadillac and rolled the blanket gently, while debating in his mind just how long will it be until something, anything, will show itself before him._

 _To be honest, his rations were more than enough for at least a month, but should the journey prove unfruitious, he very much feared that he will end up a lone carcass for the vultures. He placed the blanket in the trunk and reached for a bottle of water, opening the cap with ease, and drank half of the bottle, while the other half was used for a gentle wash of his face. Closing the trunk, he then hopped behind the steering wheel, and gave the car a start, but even the car was refusing to go on the first key._

 _"Come on, you piece of-!" he gritted until the third key managed to produce a loud whirr from the car's engine. The wind began to ruffle the man's hair as he sped down the road, aiming to get somewhere - the car needed gas, and the closest gas station was a mile from where he slept last night. "Hoping this wreck will keep me until there..." he mumbled under his breath as he shifted a gear more, and took the time to admire the lonely road leading to an unknown destination, while listening to an old tape filled with 80's music, like Queen's 'Another One Bites The Dust' or even John Lennon's '(Just Like) Starting Over'.  
_

 ** _[After a few hours of driving...]_**

 _He could see that, in the horizon, shapes of houses and towerblocks were rising, making him breathe with relief, and he changed another gear as the Cadillac got a bit more speed, the purr of the engine thrilling the young man as he extended dangerously his hands, while yelling with joy. "Finally, I'm reaching somewhere!" he told himself as he approached a gas station. What puzzled him though, was that it looked very much...abandoned? Trying to dismiss the thought on the fact that many gas stations loved to keep the old-yet-not-old aspect of theirs, he began filling the tank of the Cadillac while looking around himself, only to see a few damaged houses in near view and a few fir trees, their green a little faded than the usual.  
_

 _After he finished filling the tank of the Cadillac, he went inside the shop, only to find it completely deserted. "What the hell happened here?" he asked himself, while leaving money for the gas and a few supplies he took - chips, juice, sweet batons with chocolate, 25 cans of food, and 25 bottles of water - and placing them in the trunk of his car, while holding for himself a sweet baton with chocolate._

 _"This thing is strange...looks like nobody is here," he noted as he drove by the homes he noticed a few moments earlier and finally entering the town, looking at the few modest shops here and there. The only place that looked like it wasn't **completely** abandoned was the library, and he thought luck was finally in his favor so he parked his car close by and descended, determined to see what happened in here.  
_

 _The library looked like it had seen better days - paint was starting to peel off the walls, while the wooden door had a lot of markings on it and the windows were quite stained - for a moment, he feared it was the hideout of some dangerous lurking criminal that the police had never caught - hesitation was replaced by curiosity, and he placed his hand on the rusted handle, opening the door, only to be greeted by mountains - literally - of books, that stood close to collapsing due to the immense number and his eyes widended in surprise. "What kind of wacky librarian was working here?" he mumbled under his breath as he tried to reach the counter, cautiously, and he rang the small bell laying there._

 _The chime of the bell rang softly through the small room, and a voice in the back responded "Just a moment, please! I will come to serve you right away!", making him exhale with relief - someone was still here in this God-forsaken place - and took the time to look at a few of the titles in the piles that towered threateningly. He could recognize "War and Peace" of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoievski's "Crime and Punishment", Oscar Wilde's "Portrait of Dorian Grey", but there were no new books as he was used to see back home, like Stephen King's "Talisman" or Frank Herbert's "Heretics of Dune". It looked like the librarian was fond of selling old books to the residents that were living here, yet he couldn't help wonder - if they were gone, to whom was this one selling their books?  
_

 _He then heard some distinct pitter-patter approaching the position he was in, and he steeled his nerves in anticipation as the long hours of driving can have such and effect. After a few moments, behind the counter came someone dressed in a goat-like costume, that had decorations like lavender robes and some glasses, and he couldn't help staring at it with wide eyes.  
_

"Oh my, a human!" _the goat monster said in surprise, her voice betraying both fear and curiosity._

"Is this some kind of joke?" _he retorted, eyes widened as he examined her head to feet._ "Why are you wearing this costume, madam?"

"Costume? I'm sorry, I do not understand what you mean, good human." _Toriel retorted._

"Could you just remove the head of the costume, please? I would like to see who you are," _he said calmly._

"How can you suggest such an atrocious thing, human?" _Toriel's eyes glared in rage._

"Wait. Why do you keep calling me 'human'? Does that mean you're not a human?" _he tried to say, blinking rapidly._

"Yes, I am not a human, as you so mistakenly believed. I am a monster." _Toriel said, as her rage seemed to tone down._

"I'm sorry for my rather rude speech, I thought you were a human dressed in a costume," _he sheepishly said as sweat beaded on his forehead and scratched the back of his head.  
_

"Do not fret, human. Most of your kind have always thought this here," _Toriel said as her eyes shifted towards the window, where a rather deserted view presented itself to her._

"Can we start on better terms?" _he asked, genuine sincerity stemming from his voice._ "I dislike the idea of making enemies with someone," _he added as he extended his hand._ "My name is Roger, and I'm close to reaching adulthood. I'm currently a part-time researcher because of my genius, but I'm still considered a mere child."

"My name is Toriel, and I'm, as you can see, currently looking for this human library." _she said as a soft smile graced her snout, surprised by the rather goofy description Roger gave himself, and gently shook his hand._

"Perhaps you can help me out, given the fact you've seen the books around here," _Roger hesitated as he didn't want to provoke the rage of Toriel_ , "is there any chance you have anything about a town called Ebotton?"

"I can look for it, but I must ask that you are patient. I believe you can see how busy I am currently," _Toriel said as she pointed towards the threatening piles of books._

 ** _[After two hours of search...]_**

"There you are, little one!" _Toriel said in the distance, joyous she found what Roger needed, while the latter was slumped on the floor, sleeping. The gentle goat-monster approached the sleeping human and softly placed a paw over him, shaking him a bit. Roger, groggily but reluctantly, gave in to the soft touch that awakened him, and he looked at Toriel with funny eyes._

"How long have I been sleeping..." _Roger said as he yawned and lifted himself off the floor, dusting his shirt and pants._ "I'm sorry, I kinda fell down here while you were looking for-" _he paused, noticing the book in Toriel's hands._ "Oh, so there's a book about Ebotton...and people kept telling me it doesn't exist." _Roger said as he picked up the book and started reading it, while Toriel looked at him with awe._

 _ **"The town of Ebotton is located somewhere in Kansas, just go on Route 76 and you're good to see it. Legend has it that monsters roam that place at night, so nobody ever dares to live in it during the day. Be sure to visit Mount Ebott, the view from there is lovely!"** a few lines of the book said, and Roger lifted his head from the book, eyes glistening with determination and happiness. _

"Thank you so much, Toriel!" _he said as he couldn't resist hugging the gentle goat-monster, and noticed her fur was so soft, as if she must've used some sort of conditioner to keep it like that._ "I have to take a look on the map and then I'm good to find Ebotton. Maybe we'll meet one another again, I hope..." _Roger said as he hesitated to leave the old library, but his goal was more important than staying here with Toriel._

"I hope that we see one another again too, Roger," _she added smiling with a bit of sadness, watching Roger go._ "I wish you good luck to find what you're looking for!"

 _Roger dashed to the red Cadillac, and hastily searched for the roadmap of America, placing it on top of the Caddie's hood._ "Let's see...I left from San Francisco, via Road 80...and that book said something about Road 76...wait, that leads to Denver. So I must head to Road 76, but I see no road markings anywhere in the town. Hmph..." _Roger thought as he folded the map and sat himself atop of the hood, rubbing his hand across the chin._ "Damnit, I should've asked Toriel if she knows anything," _Roger facepalmed as he shoved the map back in the torpedo and headed back to the old library, hoping that Toriel was still there._

 _When he entered back in the old library, he noticed the books were gone and the light was off. Arching an eyebrow in disbelief, he looked at the bell that was on the counter, only to see it was dusty._ "I could've sworn the bell was shiny just a few moments ago," _he uttered under his breath._ "Toriel! Toriel, you in there?" _he asked, only to hear echoes coming back at him. He then began looking at the shelves that kept a few books, but he didn't recognize any of them, nor could he read their titles, and shook his head in bitterness, biting his lip._ "Shit. How could I be so dumb," _Roger said to himself as he plopped on the floor, in the empty library,_ "maybe I'm just hunting something that doesn't really exist, and people were right to make a fool of me."

 _After a few minutes of lingering in the old, dusty library, Roger shrugged, dusted himself up and walked out the damaged building, hands shoved deep in his pants' pockets. The Cadillac stood there, at the end of the road, shining beautifully in the afternoon light, and he smiled at such a nice sight. That didn't stop the sad sigh leaving his breath, confused and bitter about finding a new friend and then losing said friend in a matter of seconds, and for once, the Cadillac started at first key and drove away from the abandoned town._

 _He didn't know that he was closer to Ebotton than he originally thought, as behind him, a giant mountain was looming over the abandoned town and on top of him a mysterious shadow was looking at the red Cadillac driving away in the distance, a faint blue light emitting out of it._

"tch. and there goes another chance at breaking this barrier." _the shadow told himself,_ "asgore will just tell me to keep waiting."


	2. Chapter One: Under and Above the Ground

**A small note before we begin with this chapter...**

Although I know _**there were six human children**_ , I thought it would be interesting if the monsters had only _**five**_ SOULS at this point, and needed two more - one from Roger and one from Frisk (or Chara, during Genocide Route - but more of that later.)

I never saw this idea explored before, so I decided to give it a go, see how it works out!

 **'Whatever is written like this'** marks internal thought. I'm working out until I find a proper style for thoughts as well.

I have changed the names of the Royal Guards, so I make them more feline-like (Ribras and Rasha are the equivalent of Dogamy and Dogaressa, while Parvos is the equivalent of Doggo - and they're the only ones that will make an appearance for the Feline Royal Guards.)

If you see anything marked like this, [Hi, this is Shamir] - that represents a memory of that character.

 **Let's see what awaits us next!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE: UNDER AND ABOVE THE GROUND  
**

 _The air surrounding Mount Ebott's peak was chilly, but that didn't bother the skeleton monster that casually dug his bony feet in the snowy ground and placed his clenched fists in the pockets of his blue lab coat. The expression on his skeletal face turned from a frown to a hopeless grin, yet the aura of magic surrounding him didn't tone down in the slightest - that could mean only one thing. He was **pissed**. He knew Toriel got a good look at the human and saw a purple SOUL floating inside the human's chest, which was the sixth SOUL they needed, and shook his head in disbelief. _**'asgore's gonna be a little mad - as always - and i'll just have to keep going with what he asked.'** _the skeleton monster thought as he exhaled heavily and warped back to his lab, leaving behind him a perfect circle uncovered by snow, with slight burns at the edges._

 ** _[Sans's Lab, Snowdin]_**

 _The minute his warping stopped, a sensation of familiar ground tingled his old bones, and the frown soon changed into a small grin. He arranged his blue lab coat and walked towards the big computer that he installed just a few days ago - to make it easier for Asgore to keep tabs on him, while the skeleton wasn't really pleased with the idea - and began working on the various formulae that he left unfinished yesterday. His bony fingers were rapidly dashing on the keyboard, writing figures, numbers, equations, trying to work out if any of his latest test subjects could be a proper replacement for the last two souls, should no human at all descend in the Underground, and his eyes were squinted in full focus at the computer's screen._

 _The lab itself was formed of two chambers - the one where Sans worked on variables and coding to make sure he can keep a tab on the Snowdin puzzles - and another where test subjects were held in containers filled with his blue magic and connected to breathing apparatuses. Those monsters used to be dead, but Sans' genius worked out so hard they were now alive, yet not completely stable to walk again in the Underground - he got dozens of emails on the Undernet about when will the families get the dust of those particular monsters to give them a proper funeral - but Sans always hesitated in answering those emails, so his trashbin was full of more than 1,500 emails on the topic._

 _He paused for a moment, and picked up a bottle of ketchup, staring at it for two minutes in disbelief._

 **'i need a break so badly...'** _he thought as he carefully opened the ketchup bottle and drank nearly half of it, clearing his face with the right sleeve of his lab coat_. _He then capped the bottle and placed it back on the already messy desk, pondering if he should just call this a day and sleep - but just then, he heard the blip of a received email._  
 **'damn it, what is is right now?'** _he cursed mentally, as he looked at the new message prompt that showed up on the computer's screen._ **'it better not be asgore again, cause i'm really not in the mood to handle his requests'** , _he scoffed as he clicked lazily on the small, blinking envelope icon in the mailbox window.  
_  
 _It was a message from Shamir, asking him if he could spare some time to teach him a new lesson in Monsters' History, to which Sans exhaled in relief._ **'i could use a break from all the equations to teach my pal something new today...'** _he mused as his grin widened with excitement, but just as he wanted to warp towards the Feline Royal Guard's quarters, he could hear the click of the front door and a familiar voice calling for him._

 _ **[Sans and Papyrus's home, living room]**_

"SAAAANS, I'M HOME!"

 **"great."** _Sans could only utter under his breath, in disbelief - he knew just how borderline-boring his brother could be, when he started talking about how **fabulous** his tourney of the Underground wa_ s - **'just how many times has he been touring the underground again? ah...yeah, _five times_ already. and everytime it's about how cute alphys and undyne were, and how undyne keeps saying she'll be in the feline royal guard, even if shamir has made his point that undyne is still learning to fight!'** _Sans shook his head at the thought.  
_  
"SANS, WHERE ARE YOU, LAZYBONES?!" _Papyrus called out his brother, seeing he didn't get an answer at first.  
_  
"coming right in, paps," _Sans begrudingly answered his brother, as he warped inside the living room._

 _Their living room was modest, with a big TV, a large red couch and a table where a green vase with golden flowers - courtesy of Asgore - was sitting, alongside Sans's pet rock, Rocky. Sans lazily sat down on the couch, while still glaring at his brother who wore a dashing tuxedo, with pink cufflings at the end and a microphone in his pocket. Papyrus' smile was really large, but seeing that his brother didn't welcome him with warmth, made the tall skeleton wonder what upset his brother so._

"SANS, WHY ARE YOU SO MAD AT ME? WHAT HAVE I DONE?" _Papyrus asked, genuine wonder in his voice._

"paps, i've had enough work for today - and i'm _**bonetired**_. i can't summon the energy to listen to _**yet another**_ tale of how you went touring the underground. "

"I'M SORRY IF MY TALES UPSET YOU, BROTHER. I JUST WANT TO MAKE YOU PROUD...OF HAVING SUCH A COOL BROTHER LIKE ME." _Papyrus said, dumbfounded by the coldness displayed by his brother.  
_  
"paps, don't get _**the wrong end of the bone**_ with that. it's just - you tell me _**exactly the same story, over and over**_ \- you're a great star for the underground, i get it, i love it, you really make me proud." _Sans said as he closed his eyes._ "but really, there are times when i'd want to talk about something else instead."

"SANS...I DIDN'T KNOW I MADE YOU FEEL SO EMBARASSED WITH MY STORIES. PERHAPS YOU ARE CORRECT, WE DO NOT SPEND SO MUCH TIME TOGETHER AS WE USED TO." _Papyrus noted, with a bit of sadness in his voice._ "HOW ABOUT WE VISIT TOGETHER OUR FRIENDS? PERHAPS WE CAN SPEND TOGETHER SO MUCH TIME!" _the tall skeleton said as he adopted a dashing position._

"I, THE AMAZING STAR PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE SURE ME AND MY GREAT SCIENTIST BROTHER WILL HAVE A GLORIOUS AFTERNOON!"

"and here's why i am proud of my babybones brother," _Sans smiled softly._ "i'd be **_compuzzled_** if i said i wasn't."

"SAAAAAAAANS!"

"come on, you just smiled at it." _Sans grinned widely._

"I AM, BUT I HATE IT!" _Papyrus retorted, a bit grumpy about it._

 ** _[Meanwhile, on the Surface]_**

 _The red Cadillac was going with 80 miles per hour down the unmarked road, until he slowed down to look at an old, rusty indicator that said **Road 80 ahead.** He looked confused at the sign, scratching the back of his head, and decided to stop to a nearby village along the way, maybe somebody would know where Ebotton might be. **'Damn it, I really, really should've asked Toriel.'** he chided himself for this lack of reason - when he was usually a very logical man - and placed it on the fact he found Toriel a little distracting, even for a monster. **'She was beautiful, and that fur was so soft...had I been a child, I would've wanted her as my mother,'** he thought dreamily, almost forgetting to pay attention to the road, when he saw a huge truck coming down his way - and skidded the Cadillac just in time, only to end up crashing it in a tree. _

**'Goddamnit, Roger! Do you have any idea how much the repair will be, you dumbass?!'** _he berated himself as he looked at the damage in front of him - the radiator was busted, the bumper was only half-damaged - and some paint was chipped away around the headlights._ **'Well, bugger. I have to look for a garage somewhere now,'** _he said as he searched around in the torpedo for some useful numbers to call to, and placed a few of these in his pocket, while waving desperately for someone to stop and help him out._

 _Finally, after half an hour of desperate hand-waving, a grey truck stopped next to the damaged Cadillac, and from it descended a man in his fourties, with a long black beard, blue eyes, fair skin, and dressed in a worker-like attire, with a blue smock-frock and a white-and-black squared shirt. Behind him stood a small child, tanned skin, a darker brown hair, with a blue and pink striped shirt and black pants, who looked at Roger in curiosity._

"That's a nasty crash you got yerself here, young man," _the bearded man said._ "Where did'ja want to go?"

"I'm looking for a town named Ebotton," _Roger said, almost expecting the man not to believe him._

"Ebotton? Never heard of it. Perhaps you mean Esbon, right?" _the stranger said, still looking at Roger in puzzlement._

"Uh, no, I meant what I said," _Roger trailed, sheepishly,_ "but as long as I can get my car fixed, I suppose I can go with you to Esbon."

"By the way, name's Sam." _the bearded man said as he extended his large, calloused hand._ "And the kid next to me is Frankie, but prefers to be called Frisk. Kid's strange, but is really patient and causes me no trouble..."

"I'm Roger." _our hero replied after a few moments, shaking Sam's hand._ "Nice to meet you, Sam and Frisk."

 _Sam looked at the damaged Cadillac and, after a good five minutes examination, went to the back of his truck and pulled out a towing hook, carefully attaching it where the bumper wasn't completely busted._ "Okay, I want you two to stand back. I'll try to tow the car with care, so no further damage is done."

"Sure, Sam," _Roger said as he gently took Frisk by the hand and took the child to a safer zone._

 _The skilled worker went behind the wheel of the grey truck and slowly, with some shifting gears and whirrs of the old engine, managed to pull out the damaged Cadillac out of the tree. The car plopped with a bang, and Roger looked in total disbelief at how stupid he could be, a full-fledged palm covering his face._ **'I've never been this stupid before...'** _, he chastised himself as a frown replaced the soft smile from eariler, and Sam noted, inside the car, just how much Roger reminded him of the days when he did that.  
_

"Don't need to be grumpy, Roge'," _Sam said with a genuine laughter as he descended from the running truck,_ "it happened to me as well, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. Ya'll see, the car will be good as new tomorrow!"

"I sure hope so, Sam, I don't want to trouble you anymore." _Roger said, still embarassed._

"Come on, hop in my truck, and hold Frisk in your lap. Kid's usually sitting the front seat, and hates to be in the back one." _Sam said as a grin formed on his face, ruffling Frisk's hair with tenderness._

"Okay, sure!" _Roger said, thankful that Sam was a nice guy._

 _ **[New Home, Asgore and Toriel's Castle]**_

"Dum dee dum... the flowers are surely growing nicely," _Asgore noted, as he kept watering them,_ "and the day looks perfect outside, with the birds chirping so lively as ever."

 _Distinct pitter-patter could be heard in the distance, as well as sword-clanking, and Asgore paused for a moment, as if trying to discern the intruder's identity._ "Shamir? Is that you?", _the king's baritonal voice called out in the inner garden._

"Your Highness." _a gruff voice replied from the shadows that covered the entrance, the stranger's breathing audible._

"Come closer, Captain," _Asgore said as he gently placed the watering can among the golden flowers, and turned to face the other monster._

 _Shamir bowed before Asgore and then, dusting his fur, he began reporting to Asgore the events of the day, only to see the King silencing him with a paw._

"Sans has already informed me of this. Until the human will arrive in our midst, there's no possibility I could order an action against him like that."

"But, your Highness! He is a vital part of the plan to break the Barrier! I have already assembled the Feline Royal Guard and ordered them to bring the human straight to you!" _Shamir protested, confused by his leader's actions._

"King Asgore is correct, Captain of the Royal Guard," _Toriel said as she appeared from the shadows, wearing a mauve dress, adorned with the Delta Rune symbol on it, looking at the jaguar with a seething glare **.**_

"But-" _Shamir wanted to say something, only to see Toriel silencing him with a paw._

"No 'buts', Captain Shamir. You have your orders. You are to stay put until the human arrives in here. Under _no_ circumstances you're allowed to hurt the humans, _except_ for the case they would prove a true danger to our race." _Queen Toriel said as she looked sternly at the Captain before her._

 _Seeing that his monarchs were not to be reasoned with, he didn't have any choice but to obey the orders - after all, they knew he was trying to do his duty - and agreed that he will remain at his station, and will ask the Feline Royal Guard to be on watch only in the moment any human will arrive in the Underground. The two goat monsters smiled gracefully at the jaguar monster and motioned for him to take his leave._

"Do you think he will really do what we asked of him? He's kinda reckless sometimes..." _Asgore voiced his concerns, as he scratched the back of his head._

"He will _._ Everytime he walks in here, I can sense his deep respect for us, even though he finds our decisions quite puzzling." _Toriel said as she softly smiled towards Asgore._

"He seems to be a _self-sacrificing_ monster at all costs. Wonder if that's because we have been through a lot..." _Asgore noted with bewilderment._

"Time will tell if he's going to evolve in the role he has." _Toriel said, almost convinced by Shamir's strength._

 ** _[Feline Royal Guard's Headquarters, Waterfall]_**

 _Shamir still did not understand why his monarchs have refused such an opportunity. He was a tactician, he didn't like to miss a chance when it presented itself, and yet Asgore and Toriel were right. If he would've gone through with his idea, the war would've been at paw faster than King Asgore wanted - the jaguar captain had to admit that the king was no fool, even if he was a gentle soul at core - but then again, the master decisions would **always** come from Queen Toriel. He sighed and looked at the Underground map for the eleventh time, studying each and every corner from where he could place better sentries and - if Sans would agree - some turrets of sorts so the Underground is better defended. _

_He pulled out his knives and marked where the Underground began and end, while muttering under his breath_ "There are just not enough sentries for what I want to do...and no monster is willing to join our ranks, saying we're far too tough for their tastes," _he finished his rant by banging his paw in the table._ _  
_

"Captain?" _a male voice rang outside Shamir's chambers._

"Who goes there?" _Shamir asked, with a rather tensed voice._

"Parvos, the sentry of Snowdin, sir." _a white leopard dressed in black robes said, as he stood in front of the door._

"Come in, come in, Parvos." _the Captain said as he sat on a white ottoman._

"Sir, what are your orders? Ribras and Rasha have sent me to-" _Parvos began, his brown eyes staring at the fearsome leader._

"We are to stay put in our stations until the human, or humans, arrive." _Shamir said as his eyes closed._ "Queen Toriel's orders. You do not want to cross Her Majesty, I presume, Parvos?" _the jaguar monster added._

"No, sir. But if the human is dangerous?"

"Only then we're allowed to attack and defend the Underground," _Shamir said as he raised from the ottoman._ "Now, if you'll excuse me, I expect an old friend of mine to come by." _the Captain said as he gently ushered Parvos out of his chamber._

 **'I'll be damned if Captain Shamir knows what he does...'** _Parvos thought as he walked away from the headquarters towards his station, while stopping to announce Ribras and Rasha of their new orders._ **  
**

 _ **[Alphys and Undyne's House, Waterfall]  
**_

"Alphy, where the heck are you?" _Undyne said as she looked for her younger sister._

"R-Right here, 'Dine!" _Alphys said as she was reading an anime magazine in the gardens._

"Whatcha read here?" _the fish monster asked as she stole her sister's magazine._

"H-HEY! G-give it back! It's a r-rare Mew Mew manga!" _the lizard monster said as she began chasing her sister._

"Ooh, you're reading about this human that can kiss other humans and do whatever they want for her?" _Undyne teased, a big grin on her face._

"S-Stop! Just g-give it back! I-" _Alphys said as she covered her snout in shame._

"Just teasin' ya, little sister. Here, you can have it back. After all - I HAVE BEEN READING IT TWICE ALREADY -," _Undyne replied as she gave back the manga to Alphys, a hearty laughter escaping her._

 _Undyne hugged her small sister, then returned to the gym inside their large house - because Alphys loved to tinker with scientific things and would, more than once, ask for Sans' advice about it - and Undyne wanted to train hard enough to gain Shamir's respect and to be accepted in the Royal Guard. She began summoning blue spears and pierced nearly every dummy in the room, and felt a little disappointed that she wasn't perfect._ **'NGAHHH, I don't want to be less than perfect! If I want to be in the Royal Guard, I have to work thrice as hard!'** _she scolded herself and began fighting with the last dummy that she didn't pierce. She practiced kicking the dummy in the head, at the torso, the arms and legs, until she panted with exhaustion. She then reminded the speech Shamir would give to one of his younger recruits of the Royal Guard:_ _  
_

[If you want to be a member of the Royal Guard, there's no such thing as giving up in here. I know, it can be hard at times, but your goal was to be among us, right? If you do not give out your maximum potential, then how are you expecting to be successful in battle? Now come on, press on, and **always be vigilant!** ]

 **'Shamir looked so cool right there, like a real leader, encouraging that recruit to press on.'** _she thought as she dawdled on that particular memory. and began pulling some chin ups to fortify herself, sweat stemming off her and a look of determination in her eyes._

 _Outside, Alphys looked at how cool her sister was, and how proud she was of her._ **'I hope Captain Shamir will one day fulfill her dream of entering the Royal Guard...day after day she tries so hard to prove herself...'** **  
**

 _ **[Esbon, Kansas, after six hours of driving.]**_

"Here we are, Roger! The small, nice town, of Esbon..." _Sam said as he looked at the small houses and shops that appeared welcoming._

"Phew, that was one long drive, Sam. Do you know where the garage is?" _Roger asked as he scratched the back of his head._

"No, but we can ask around. In the meantime, let us find ourselves a place to sleep. Frisk looks awfully tired."

 _Indeed, the small child was fast asleep in Roger's lap, and while the latter didn't have any experience tending to children, he did his best to ensure that the child's slumber was not disturbed at all by the various bumps along the road. Frisk looked so oddly similar to him - as if the small human was a perfect replica of his - and a thought crossed his mind,_ **'Maybe, if the child will get used to my presence, they will open up...?'** _Sam noticed the thoughtful expression on Roger's face, and nodded solemnly._

"Yup, that's how I can get Frisk to talk...sometimes," _Sam said as he descended from the truck._ "Wait here, I'll go ask around and see if there's any garage."

 _Roger looked at the small child in his lap, and gently awoke them with a soft noogie,_ "Hey, Frisk. Wake up, buddy...we're in Esbon already.", _to which Frisk looked at the man in curiosity and smiled, a pair of funny eyes staring at Roger._

 _After a few minutes, Frisk noticed the absence of Sam and looked at Roger in questioning, while the latter didn't quite catch up on the kid's puzzlement as he was busy looking towards the shop Sam entered before Frisk woke up._

"Where's Sam?" _Frisk uttered, as if almost scared of their voice._

"Huh? I'm sorry, did you ask me anything?" _Roger turned towards Frisk, eyes widened.  
_

 _Frisk shook their head and pointed towards the empty driver's seat, to which Roger - finally - understood what the child wanted to know, and probably did ask._

"Ah, Sam is just in that shop, asking for directions..." _Roger answered Frisk's concerns, but the young man couldn't help wonder what took Sam so long._

 **'He's in there for 10 minutes already - maybe he's just shopping and asks for directions.'** _Roger thought as he looked towards the modest building Sam was in, with a firm named Simone's Shop. But as he was looking down the street, he could see a masked man, about five feet and eight inches tall, wearing a torn brown jacket with many pockets, torn blue jeans with rolled edges, and a black pair of shoes. The masked man looked determined in his pace, because, three minutes later, Roger saw him enter the shop Sam was in, and muffled sounds were heard from inside the shop._ **  
**

 _What he did hear loud and clear though, were two gunshots, and saw the man breaking down the door, running away with a black bag.  
_

 _Roger saw, in the shadows where the door used to be, someone struggling to move outside - a woman, perhaps? - while Frisk looked with scared eyes towards Roger as they desperately tugged on his shirt._ "Not now, Frisk, please...lay low and be quiet!" _Roger said sternly, but softly, to the insistent child, while watching the shadows dissipating._

 _In the twilight's aura, stood a trembling woman, in her thirties, with red hair, wearing a blue turtleneck blouse and white skirt, the latter stained by something - and the only words she could utter were...  
_

"Help! H-help...a-a man...a man just died in-in here!"


	3. Chapter Two: Sides of Life and Death

**I hope I've got my shenanigans in order - I've been practising a bit.**

 **Anyway, it goes by saying things are not looking good - at least on the Surface.  
**

 **The Underground is still safe - but time will slowly run out. _  
_**

 **In the meantime, some of our lovely monsters have some time to spare before then.**

 **Warning: There's some mention of gory stuff...but not in full detail, as I intend to stay true to the T rating.**

 **Let's see what's up!**

* * *

 _ **[Esbon, Kansas, a few minutes after the gunshots.]  
**_

 _Roger must've stood there for like five minutes, eyes widened in shock, trying to process just what happened - the woman before him was trembling in agitation, before she cast a curious glance at the old grey truck and saw him standing there, holding a young, but terrified child. She ran towards the truck, eyes filled with horror, and asked him something - but Roger was still too frozen to hear anything - that is until Frisk tugged with their full strength off the blue shirt, dissipating the cloud of darkness that filled the young man's mind for those brief minutes._

"Are you deaf?! A man got killed in my-my shop, and you stand here like an idiot!" _the woman shouted at Roger, whose eyebrows arched in a frown._

"I am just as shocked as you are, miss," _he choked up a reply, even if he didn't like the tone of this lady._ "Frisk, here. Hold this solid Stick I found for you", _Roger said as he tossed a strong oak stick he found in his journey to find Ebotton,_ "and please, wait here in the truck."

"Are you idiot? You're leaving this poor child alone like that?!" _the terrified woman looked at Roger, a hint of fear in her voice._

"You're going to call the police, while I investigate the area. I'm a professional researcher and part-time sleuth," _Roger said, trying to convince the woman to just leave already._

"Whatever. Anything to get myself away from-", _the woman hesitated in her speech_ , "from all this horrible thing here."

 _Roger looked as the woman began running down the street, bumping into people here and there, and he reckoned she was far too nervous to think clearly, but at least she was gone, giving him full chance to find out what really happened in there. He didn't lie with his previous statement - various police departments did ask for his help, but with minor cases and never officially made him a professional, recognized sleuth. For them he was just junior researcher Roger Warforth and that was it - nothing more, nothing less.  
In the meantime, Frisk looked with curious eyes as Roger began advancing with care towards the now broken door - they were still too young to grasp what was going on - but now they only relied on Roger for protection, and decided to follow his advice. They locked the truck as they saw Sam doing it, and waited patiently in the car, watching the tranquil street - well - as tranquil as it could've been at this hour, and the glorious purple-coated sky in the further distance.  
_

 _Roger looked at the what was left of the broken door, but no vital clue left on it - the doorknob was completely busted, the frame was cracked as if a hurricane torn it apart, and the window was completely shattered, yet there was something that caught his attention. A few spots of dried blood on a few bits, which meant that the attacker must've hurt himself in the process -_ **'this could be useful,'** _was all Roger could think of._ _Inside, the twilight illuminated the wooden chestnut floor partially, yet the shadows completely engulfed the rest of the shop._ **'Ugh, where was that lantern again-?'** _he thought as his hands were running up and down hastily through his pockets in the search for a small lantern he carried with him, until he realised that he lost it._

"Damn it all to hell, it's not here!" _he could utter under his breath, as he advanced carefully inside the shop, looking for anything that could help out figure what happened.  
_

"Roger!" _a voice yelled at him from behind._ "Roger? Where are you?"

"I'm a bit busy right now, Frisk!" _Roger said to the small child, while he was worried about his next step._

"I found _something_ in here, looks like - a lan-tern!" _Frisk said, as he was spelling out the word._

 **'Oh, thank heavens, the lantern was in the truck,'** _Roger mentally thanked God above,_ **'but how am I gonna get it now?'** _he said as he found himself in a really bad predicament._ **'I can't get Frisk, they are bound to see more than I want to -'**

 _But just as he was mulling over the thought, the young clerkwoman returned to the damaged shop, seeing the child standing with a hand outside one of the truck's windows, and someone else she could not discern - she went to Frisk and picked up the lantern, kindly saying she'll just borrow it for a minute - and exhaled in relief as the flashlight's bulb illuminated the area where Roger was._

"I've called for the police, they should arrive in like, thirty minutes. We don't have any local police in here..." _she said as she tossed the lantern to Roger._ "Look around, maybe you'll find out who robbed my store."

"Yeah, sure, I will." _Roger said as he felt a bit sure of his wits, with the lantern at hand,_ "And please, try to stay away from the scene."

"I hope you haven't touched anything, as per the _crime book_ sayings, right?" _the woman said, a rather fearful look still on her face._

"I may or may not have bumped into a few things, given the fact it was _dark as hell_ in here," _Roger scoffed._ "By the way, name's Roger. I presume you must be Simone, right?"

"Yup, that's me." _she said as she gently shook her head, ruffling her hands through her long hair._ "Been doin' sales for as long as this hole of a town knows me, yet up until today, I was _never_ robbed. Guess times have changed," _she added, a pout forming on her face._ "What's up with the kid, is he yours?"

"Frisk was under Sam's care _until now_ , but yeah, they would be somehow mine." _Roger said as he looked around the corners of the shop._

 _Now that he could see something before him, he noticed that the back shelves looked in complete disarray, and products of all brands were laying on the floor, bags completely ripped and contents spilled on the floor - candies, chips, chocolate, you name it - but his eyes widened and he froze a bit in shock as he noticed something else in that direction._

 _A pair of large feet were coming out of a pile of exploded chip bags, and a large pool of blood was soaking the products._

 _He didn't need to look more to know the shoes belonged to none other than Sam - he was indeed the victim of this heinous robbery - but somehow, the sleuth in him wanted more clues, more answers. He slowly uncovered the rest of Sam's lifeless body, and noticed two gunshots in the chest._

 **'Well, shit. He took the blow in force, the bullets must still be inside. There are burn marks at the entry wounds, so the shots were close enough...'** _Roger analyzed in short, and then shifted his attention towards the bruised knuckles of the old man._ **  
**

 **'Least he didn't go down without a fight.'** _Roger noted as he left out a long sigh.  
_

 _In the distance, both Simone and Roger could hear the wailing of the sirens, and Frisk, out of fear, hid in the space under the passenger's seat. Roger took the time to get out of the shop, careful not to tumble anything on the way, and thanked Simone for letting him in and examine the area._

"Before I go-," _Roger said, hesitation in his voice,_ "did you see if the attacker uncovered his face, at any rate?"

"I'm afraid not," _Simone said as she stared at the visibly disappointed man before her,_ "he kept that crazy mask of a clown until he busted out..."

"I noticed something else - some blood on the window bits. I hope the police will not miss that."

"Oh, so he did leave a trail after all! This sounds like a cheesy _mystery novel_ to me," _Simone said as a soft chuckle left her._ "Anyway, want me to tell the police you've been here?"

"You could, but I doubt they would-" _Roger trailed off as he saw a police car stopping nearby, accompanied by two others.  
_

 _From the first police car, a seasoned police inspector descended, along with two officers - the police inspector looked like he'd seen many things at his life, while the two officers had a few years in training with the force - that was all Roger could note, anyway, until the police inspector stopped by and cast the blue-shirted man a long, curious look._

"What's going on here? We heard a desperate call coming from here, saying a man has died." _the inspector said, with a gruff voice, and showed his I.D._ "I'm Lt. Drew Richards, and these are my partners, officer Watkins and Dmitri."

"I could hear a woman's voice down the line - were you the caller, miss-" _officer Watkins questioned Simone_.

"Simone. And yes, it was me calling." _the red-haired woman said, folding her arms.  
_  
"Mind tell us what's that on your skirt, miss Simone?" _Lt. Richards noted, pointing towards her skirt._

"I-I dunno, m-maybe some ketchup? I-I tend to be quite messy handling my merch sometimes." _Simone said, as if refuting the fact it might've been blood._

"What if I told you," _the lieutenant said,_ "that the red stains on your skirt are actually too red to be anything like ketchup? Why are you denying there's blood on your clothes?"

"Sir, mind telling us where were you at the moment of the crime," _officer Dmitri began questioning Roger._

"I-I was here, in the truck, with a small child. We were waiting for the man inside, only for him to be brutally killed by some guy dressed like a mercenary and with a clown's mask on him." _Roger said, omitting the part where he investigated the crime scene._

"Hey, young one, you look familiar to me." _Lt. Richards said, as he looked at Roger with curiosity,_ "but I can't place my finger on it."

 _ **[Meanwhile, in the Underground...]**_

"paps, are you sure we can do this? i haven't seen the underground for at least _three_ days." _Sans said, still a bit skeptical about hanging out with everyone, as per Papyrus' plan._

"RELAX, BROTHER. I WILL TAKE YOU TO A NICE PLACE FIRST!" _the tall skeleton said, as his grin widened._

"better not be mtt resort, cause i can't really _stand-up_ going there." _Sans said, with a bigger grin on his face._

"SANS, IT WON'T BE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO STAND UP-" _Papyrus paused for a moment,_ "UGH. I WALKED RIGHT INTO THIS ONE-", _the tall skeleton facepalmed in frustration._

"come on, you're still _smiling at it._ " _the lab-coated skeleton said as he blinked with his left eye._

"SANS, STOP WITH YOUR PUNS FOR TODAY!" _the famous underground skeleton, Papyrus, said in exasperation._

 ** _[Feline Royal Guard HQ, Waterfall]_**

"Press on, Parvos! Your stance is off," _Shamir said as he boxed with the white leopard._

"What's the point, Captain, if we just fight-" _Parvos was about to voice out a thought, when Shamir plopped a paw right into the leopard's right cheek._

"Well, that's the point of boxing, Parvos. To fight with bare paws if the situation is too desperate at some point!" _the jaguar captain said as his eyes glistened with a steeling determination._

 **'I swear, sometimes he looks like a prancing jaguar cub that likes to brag about his skills,'** _Parvos deadpanned in his mind, while avoiding a well-placed swash aimed at him._ **  
**

"Parvos, got something to say?" _Shamir said as he looked at the soldier before him._

"N-no, Captain. Nothing at all." _the white leopard said as he bowed courteously._

"Fine. That concludes _your_ training for today-" _Shamir said, when he was cut off by some noise outside the Royal Guard's Halls,_ **'what in the name of the Royal Dreemurrs is going on out there?'** _he thought as his ears twitched._

"NGAAAAH! Just let me see Captain Shamir, I want to talk to him!" _Undyne said, bellowing rage in her voice._

"Get out of here, you brat! The Captain said loud and clear you are _not_ yet ready-" _Rasha, a creamy lioness, wearing green robes, said as she gritted her teeth._

"And on top of it, he specifically said that _you_ shouldn't come back here on our grounds!" _Ribras, a powerful lion with a white mane, wearing a darker variant of his wife's green robes, said as he placed his sharp spear in front of Undyne._

 _A set of loud pawprints could be heard in the distance, as well as sword-clanking, from the large hall of the Royal Guard's building - and to the two guarding felines, that meant one thing - Shamir was **displeased** , and neither wanted to be at the paws of said displeasure. The moment his large stature appeared from the darkness, the two guardians retreated in full shame as fast as they could, while Shamir's usual azure turned to a red glaring stare as he looked at the teen fish monster before him._

"While I do appreciate your determination, I remember I told you that you have to wait a little longer!" _Shamir said, as he folded his paws._

"I don't have the patience to wait a little longer!" _Undyne said as she manifested a blue spear and charged at the jaguar captain before her._

 _Before Shamir could even react, the spear left out a small tear under his left eye, enough to make it drip some blood, but the jaguar looked completely unfazed by the fish monster's bold attack. The other feline guards looked with shock as Undyne just - outright dared - to attack the captain of the Royal Guard, but Shamir wasn't paying attention to any of this.  
_

"You don't want to wait, huh? Looks like you're _just like the others_ ," _Shamir said as he took out his small daggers,_ " **insisting** that they get what they deserve. Well, I was ready to give you the open position, but since you're so defiant, means I have to **beat up** some sense into you. You'll not be acting ruthless under _my watch._ "

"I want to see you _try_ , old cat." _Undyne smiled defiantly._

 _Undyne started hurling waves of blue spears towards the feline captain, which the latter avoided them with enough grace and parrying a few with his small daggers. Shamir wasn't going to leave this insubordination unpunished, so he replied with waves of lightning, that Undyne found a bit difficult to avoid - she got a few burns on her scales, but it was nothing she couldn't shrug off. The fish monster then summoned a large rapier and jumped in the air, aiming for the feline jaguar that stood there, as if waiting for her to charge - but when the rapier was about to touch Shamir's head, the courageous captain placed the two daggers in an X-shape, and grinded them one with the other, small ripples of electricity stemming out of them._

 _Undyne widened her eyes in shock at how easy could the jaguar monster parry this kind of an attack - and zap her in the process as well!_

"Ugh, I back up my words - you're not an old cat. You're just an _annoying_ cat!" _Undyne said as she summoned waves after waves of spears, which Shamir found a little difficult to deflect with his shield of wind - a few of them zinged his white robes, leaving holes in the process._

 **'Tch. She fights really well- but it's usually the very self-certainty of the enemy that is their downfall - in most cases,'** _Shamir was thinking as he looked at the teen warrior before him._ **'Nevertheless, I won't make it easy for her.'**

 _ **[Alphys and Undyne's House, Waterfall]**_

 _Alphys was looking at her favorite anime, Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, when she heard a loud banging on the solid steel door and tumbled down the sofa with fear, throwing the remote and spilling her popcorn in the process. She was wearing her favourite pink pyjamas, and was wondering who could it be right now, in the middle of Mew Mew's adventure in subjugating the human race to her bidding, and left out a frustrated sigh._

"C-coming right down, p-please wait!" _she said as she struggled to find a dressing gown to cover herself with, until she decided a purple one would do._

"knock-knock." _Sans said._

"Who's there?" _Alphys replied, a hint of frustration still on her face._

"theodore."

"Theodore who?"

"the door wasn't open, so I knocked!"

 _Alphys let out a small laughter, and opened the door, only to see Sans and his brother, Papyrus, standing before her._ **'Wonder what Papyrus is up to...and where the hell is 'Dine? She's been out for at least one hour already...'** _Alphys was thinking as she looked at the two skeleton brothers before her._

"Come in, Sans, Papyrus!" _Alphys greeted the two merrily._

"UGH, SANS, I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU'LL STOP WITH THE PUNS FOR TODAY!" _Papyrus said, folding his arms._

"can't help it, bro...i'm too _dip_ into them."

"Why would you dip-" _Papyrus stared at his scientist brother, only for his mind to process the pun a while later._

 **'PLEASE DON'T TELL ME I JUST WALKED IN ON ANOTHER OF MY BROTHER'S PUNS...'** _the tall skeleton mentally deadpanned, while Alphys brought them some instant noodles and a bit of hot golden flower tea.  
_

"So, what brings you two here, huh?" _Alphys asked, trying to make some conversation._

"paps thought it would be nice for me to hang out with our friends," _Sans said as he carefully ate some noodles from the bowl in front of him,_ "and the change of scenery is _quite shocking_ ", _he said laying cozily on the blue couch Alphys and Undyne had in their small living room._

"Uh, have you found anything new yet?" _Alphys asked about Sans' pet project._

"nah, not yet. but things are bound to change-", _Sans said **,** pausing for a moment._

 **'yup, but only if the human returns. what happens if the human won't come back, huh?'**


	4. Chapter Three: In Actam Veritas

**Looks like our adventure is starting to cook up on some action...**

 **I hope you'll enjoy this particular chapter, although there's quite a lot of dialogue *sweatdrops***

 **Shamir: I'm sure your readers will love it just fine, Shock.**

 **Let's get this thing started!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER THREE: IN ACTAM VERITAS (THERE'S TRUTH IN ACTIONS)**

 ** _[Alphys and Undyne's House, Waterfall]_**

"Sans?" _Alphys called out the scientist skeleton, who seemed lost in thought, his pinpricks completely gone._

 _The skeleton didn't even hear the small lizard calling out to him, for he was worrying about the fate of the Underground, and what would happen should he fail utterly and horribly. But this was just one half of his feelings - the other half was more concerned on how to finish this faster. He was bored of working all day - and nights - on this blasted barrier, exhausting him to no end. He shook his head gravely and left out a sigh of despair, which Alphys wrongly interpreted as a sign of his discontent aimed at her._

"Sorry." _she said as she laid back on the armchair that sat opposite of the sofa._ "I didn't mean to intrude on your musings-" _she said as she fiddled with her claws._

"nah, it's okay, alphys. i jus' thought that our hope is so close, yet so far from bein' achieved, that's all." _Sans said as he relaxed his tensed bones and laid a bit more comfortably on the sofa._

"WORRY NOT, BROTHER! YOU HAVE ME AS YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT!" _Papyrus said, looking at his brother with some concern._

 _And speaking of brothers, Alphys couldn't stop looking at a Mew-Mew clock she got for her birthday_ _\- courtesy of Undyne, who went out of the way to make sure her sister got what she wanted - and saw the clock's hands pointing at number 2._ **'Where the hell could she be?! I know I precisely asked her to- Oh no.'** _Alphys sweatdropped a little, realization hitting her._

"alph. bucko?" _Sans looked at the small lizard, whose eyes seemed transfixed on the curious pink watch hanging off the wall next to the kitchen._ "you in here with me?"

"Yeah-" _Alphys choked out, sweat still on her forehead._ "I was thinking about Undyne."

"YES, WHERE IS UNDYNE? I WANTED TO SHOW HER MY IMPROVEMENTS WITH PASTA!" _Papyrus asked, dusting off his tuxedo._

"I happen to have an idea." _Alphys said as she shifted her gaze._ "She's gone...somewhere important."

"oh? where to? the only places she hangs out are here and-" _Sans's eyesockets darkened._ "no way in hell."

"Yes way in hell," _Alphys retorted grimly._ "I hope she didn't do anything stupid..."

"let's just not think on that." _Sans said, as he waved a hand lazily._ "say, you've been working on what i asked you to, lately?"

"Yes, I have!" _the yellow-colored lizard said, her glasses shining with excitement._ "Your project does look _promising enough_ in this state."

"ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT SCI-FI STUFF?" _Papyrus asked, completely puzzled by what the two were talking._

"yeah paps, you'll be _spaced out_ for a while." _Sans beamed at his brother._

"SANS, YOUR INCESSANT PUN-MAKING IS DRIVING ME-"

" _hind_ sane?" _Sans retorted, his hands out in a comical fashion._

"UGH! I'LL GO PREPARE FOR MY NEXT TOUR! I EXPECT YOU TO BE HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE ABOUT MY BEAUTY SLEEP." _Papyrus said, in a dashing manner, before storming outside the two sisters' house._

"isn't he just hilarious?" _the scientist skeleton said._

"You're gonna drive him mad one day, you know," _Alphys said, as she laughed softly._

"nah, he's not getting mad at all - in fact he's really too cool to be mad." _Sans said, a smirk playing on his bony face._

"Wish my sister was taking things coolly as he does..." _Alphys said, a small frown forming on her snout._

 ** _[Sans and Papyrus' house, Snowdin]_**

 _Papyrus was still mad over the last puns his brother dished out, but nevertheless, he smiled deep down inside._ **'MY BROTHER IS NEVER GOING TO LEAVE OUT THOSE PUNS...BUT I AM GRATEFUL THAT HE DOES SO. HE IS PROBABLY THE ONLY REASON I TRY TO BE BETTER EACH DAY- AND GLAMOROUS!'** _the tall, dashing skeleton thought as he walked inside the house, aiming to cook a bit of pasta for himself._

 _The house was awfully quiet without Sans' presence, that much was obvious. The thought of losing his brother one day sent a shiver down his spine - but he tried to remain the same optimistic, easy-going and fabulous skeleton his brother loved and cared about, as well as everyone in the Underground. It certainly wasn't easy, being the star everyone looked up to - but Papyrus felt that he carried a rather big burden on his shoulders._

 _He couldn't afford to let anyone see him weak or vulnerable, or worse, being dragged through a scandal in the Underground._

 _Papyrus stirred the pasta gently, while the fire was warming his bones and let his mind adrift as he remembered some vague, distant memories of his own - the very first time his brother gave him the microphone, for instance - and then, someone crossed his mind._

 _He missed seeing a certain human._

 _He missed seeing Patricia, the SOUL of Integrity._

 ** _[Esbon, Kansas, in the evening.]_**

 _The police inspector looked at Roger curiously, examining the young man head to top with his green eyes as if trying to create what policemen call a_ _ **profile.**_ _Roger didn't like the scrutiny, but didn't object to it - he was getting tired, and Frisk was still in the car, watching everything that unfolded. The two officers finished writing the statements, and proceeded to examine the crime scene, when one of them called out Lt. Richards._

"Sir, someone tampered with the crime scene." _officer Dmitri said, as he pointed out to a fresh footprint on the chestnut floor._

 **'Shit. Not my fault it was so ungodly dark in there.'** _Roger thought as sweat formed slowly on his forehead, while looking at the three policemen with curiosity._

"Whoever did this wasn't a careful planner," _Lt. Richards said as a smile plastered on his face,_ "this robbery was _sloppy_ , by all means."

"We'll document anything out of place, sir." _officer Watkins replied, as she looked carefully in the shop with a bright flashlight._

"In the meantime, I get to call for two warrants." _the lieutenant said as he briskly headed towards his car._

 **'Two? What the hell for? Simone isn't guilty with anything...'** _Roger thought in frustration as the two officers were still collecting evidence._

"Shit. Look at this, Watkins. This guy was toasted." _officer Dmitri said, pointing out towards Sam's body._

"I feel sorry for the fella, he probably just went in at the wrong time." _officer Watkins said._

"No surveillance cams, so we can't tell-" _the slender Russian officer said._

"There are cams outside, though, maybe we should check those." _the other officer said._

 _In the meantime, Roger took the liberty to check on Frisk, who was, at present, still puzzled by whatever was going on. The young researcher wasn't sure how to tell a child such a tragic tale, and the outcome of the investigation, until he settled in for a variant he thought it might work._

"Uh...Frisk. Sam told me he's going to hide for a while." _Roger said, a small, sad frown on his face._

"Why?" _was all Frisk could utter._

"He's hunted by bad men. Don't worry, he told me to watch over you while he's hiding." _Roger said, smiling a little as he gently ruffled the child's hair._

"Oh. Okay." _Frisk nodded as he hugged Roger._

"But why are those people here?" _the small child asked, looking at the man in curiosity._

"They'll make sure Sam gets better protection." _Roger said as he held the child tighter._

 _In the distance, Lt. Richards seemed pleased with something, and he approached Roger, Frisk and Simone, telling them that they will come at the station while Frisk will be placed under foster care. He then asked the two policemen to arrest both Roger and Simone. The first protested and considered it a violation of his rights, while Simone bickered about how unjust her arrest was, and the child was frozen with fear._

"Frisk! D-Don't worry, everything will be-"

 ** _[Feline Royal Guards HQ, Waterfall]_**

 **"Fine** , if I'm an _annoying_ cat, then that makes you a _puffin fish!_ **"** _Shamir said as he narrowed his eyes in expectation, shifting his right leg in the ground._

"Your puns are worse than Sans'," _Undyne made a comeback, taking an attack position herself._

 _Rapier and dual swords clashed one against another, going back and forth in a duel of agility and wits. Undyne felt lucky with each dashing attack, while Shamir was keeping himself steady, avoiding at millimetric inches the threatening rapier that would've impaled him. The only damage he had were just a few scratches here and there on his fur, and holes in his white robes, while Undyne's burnt scales ached a bit and her clothes were torn in some places._

"How can you think yourself worthy of the Royal Guard if that's all you give?" _Shamir said, his red eyes shining with steeling determination and fury._

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER!" _Undyne said as she began hurling wave after wave of spears, making Shamir dodge with a lot of difficulty, but he was still unimpressed at the display. He steadied his position and clasped his paws, gathering a ball of wind inside and waited. Undyne thought that Shamir looked really defenseless, and charged at him with a huge spear of water, while the jaguar waited until his opponent was close enough._

"YOU'RE DONE FOR NOW! NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" _Undyne's warrior call was stopped by two jaw-like paws straightened out that shot a powerful blast of wind, kicking Undyne back in a blue wall that surrounded the building, making her spear just splash over the fearless jaguar, his fur a little wet after this._

 **'D-Damn h-him...he w-was waiting f-for my h-hit,'** _Undyne thought as she spat a bit of blood and dusted herself up, looking at the other end of the hall, where the yellow-furred captain of the Royal Guard waited._

 _Undyne had some determination of her own, so Shamir wasn't surprised to see this escalating to a different level - the teen fish monster's rage was boiling hot - and the expression on her face spelled pure insanity. She summoned armor for herself, and created a Japanese-like spear, which Shamir saw her coat with something watery, yet, greener than the usual water. Undyne proudly twirled her powerful spear at the - still- unfazed jaguar, while Shamir saw no other resort than closing his eyes, grinding the two Dual Sabers one with the other and soon enough, whirrs of electricity were dancing around the metal, lighting the jaguar's focused face._

"Well, that escalated quickly between the two," _Parvos noted as he looked at the two fighters._

"This spells _epicness_ ," _Ribras said as he looked at the fight with excitement._

 _Indeed, Undyne and Shamir didn't lose any second in dashing one towards another, eyes slitted and glinting with sheer rage. Spear clashed against dual swords, forcing them to be pushed apart, while Undyne twirled her spear in a swipe towards Shamir's face. The jaguar captain managed to crook his head to the right, barely avoiding the spear's tip angling inches from his left eye, while he aimed with the right sword at her left arm and managed to get a hit in._

 _Undyne gritted her teeth and kicked the jaguar in his chest, forcing him to fall back on his hind legs, barely catching his breath, but the fish monster didn't give him a chance to recover as she narrowed her eyes and aimed to impale the jaguar with all her fury. Ribras and Parvos looked in shock as she was decisively determined to_ _ **kill**_ _Shamir, while the Royal Captain managed to avoid the fatal blow with a jump to the right._

 **'Ngh. She-she's strong, no doubt-ugh-about it...but it's gonna take more than that to outright kill me.'** _Shamir thought as he looked at the fish monster that darted straight for him and jumped in mid-air, hoping to catch him off defense, but the jaguar captain managed, with a deep, hurting breath to roar powerfully towards his attacker._

 _Undyne's attack walloped as she landed somewhere further from Shamir, her ears still hurting from that roar, while she couldn't help thinking that the riposte was strong enough to divert her from her path._ **'Ugh, guy's pretty tough for a feline. He's probably been chosen for a good reason.'**

 _Shamir managed to recover from his hurt chest, and began leaping towards Undyne, spinning his Dual Sabers as if they were slicers - to which Undyne bent just in time to avoid the two lightning blades - and see the jaguar landing on his hind legs safely._

"You are certainly _something_ , if you aim so much to kill me, just to prove you belong with the Royal Guard." _Shamir said, anger written on his face._ "But I'm not just about to let you walk over me, you hear? There was a reason I constantly denied you."

"What's that reason, _old cat_? That I'm a fish and I am in huge danger to be eaten by a bunch of felines?" _Undyne retorted, keeping her spear pointed at Shamir._

"I see so much potential in you, Undyne. You will become a valuable member of the Royal Guard one day, but you are still young! And you have a little sister to look after." _Shamir said as he stopped the electrical charges on his blades, placing them in their sheats._

 _Undyne's face twitched, that insane smile still there,_ "YOU THINK I'M STILL A YOUNG MONSTER?!" _she said as she threw the spear right into Shamir's right shoulder, impaling him to a wall._

"CAPTAIN!" _the three feline Guards yelled as they saw their leader pinned to a wall, his eyes slowly closing due to the poison in the spear._

"You **stupid** brat," _Parvos said as he threateningly glared at Undyne, holding out his dual daggers,_ "if our captain dies because of your rash actions...", _he paused, closing his eyes, and then opening them to reveal a complete black iris and red slits,_ " **I'll make sure you will die a most excruciating death.** "

"Rasha, go call for their Majesties...our captain needs help!"

 _Meanwhile, Alphys was extremely worried about Undyne, and asked Sans to teleport the two of them at the Royal Guards' headquarters. The skeleton was more than pleased to comply, so he asked her to hold on his hand, and in a flick of light, the two arrived just outside the headquarters. She was secretly hoping that Undyne didn't get herself into trouble, only to be greeted with a horrible scene before her eyes - Undyne, with her clothes teared up in various places, two large felines tending over another feline, and lots of burns and blood around the place._

"What THE HELL is going on in here?" _Alphys asked, her face darkening a bit in fury._

 **'oh shit. that's shamir over there...'** _Sans thought, noticing the white, teared up robes from one side of the felines and his left eye began glowing with fury. "who dared to do this to my pal?" he said, gritting through his teeth while standing next to Shamir. "hold out there, buddy..."_

"UNDYNE." _Alphys managed to choke out, bottled up anger audible in her voice._ "I thought you **wouldn't** break your promise to me! You swore to tone down your ambitions at entering the Royal Guard!"

"But-" _Undyne tried to reason with her sister._

"No BUTS, Undyne. You promised. **You know what happens when you break a promise you made to me, right?** " _the small lizard said as a hint of insanity was visible on her face, her glasses shining white._

"I-" _Undyne trailed off, not even daring to look at Alphys._

"I understand you want to be a part of them, but you're **going too far!** You're going to hurt everyone if you keep going blindly with your actions!" _Alphys said as she clenched her right claw._

 _Just as the two sisters were arguing, the Royal Dreemurrs arrived to look with horror at the damage before them. Toriel and Asgore rushed to heal the badly impaled captain, while both monarchs had a worried and angry expression on their snouts._

"Care to explain how this happened?" _Toriel said, her eyes squinting at Ribras and Rasha, while focusing her healing magic over Shamir's wounded shoulder._

"The brat over there-", _Rasha said as she pointed with her paw towards Undyne,_ "just outright duelled our captain, until she ended up impaling him like that..."

 _Toriel didn't need any other explanation, as she quietly asked Asgore to keep healing the wounded monster, while she darted straight towards Undyne._

"Do you begin to realize the consequence of your insolent action?"

 ** _[Wichita Police Headquarters, late evening.]_**

 _Lt. Drew Richards had a hard time getting out some answers from Roger - the latter has been subjected to numerous questions about the murder - mainly because, according to evidence collected by Watkins and Dmitri, he was pinpointed as the main suspect, while the researcher insisted on seeing the five feet eight inches tall man that walked in on the shop. One of the cameras was panning down the street, but the video feed was really bad, so nothing useful there, and the other cameras were too far to capture anything, while the latter cameras captured the sound of the murder, and then Roger on tape walking in the shop a few moments later._

"Look, pal. I've been researching **you** , and you have served the force well in your unofficial position. " _lt. Richards said as he sat down on the table, across a tired and battered Roger._

"So, you're not gonna believe me, right?" _Roger said, his eyes half-lidded and standing still as his hands were cuffed behind his back._

"I'm ready to take up your story, but sadly, you're the only guy we have right now." _the inspector said as he looked through a worn dossier._

"Simone hasn't told you the truth yet?" _Roger asked, dismay written all over his face._

"She did. She told us you snooped around the crime scene." the _inspector said as he gently lit up a cigar._

"I did it for a **friend**. He took me in when I got my car busted, so I couldn't just-"

"How long you knew Sam for?" _Richards asked, puffing a bit from his cigar._

"Just today I met him. But he was a nice, friendly chap, so I felt in his debt even-" _Roger paused,_ "-even like that."

"So you didn't know him for too long, eh?" _the well-built inspector said as he looked sternly at Roger._ "For all I know, you could as well just _steal_ his truck and kidnap the kid."

"What's going to happen to Frisk?" _Roger asked, his eyes widened and a frown on his lips._

"Kid's going to be taken by the Social Services - maybe they'll find the child an orphanage, or a good enough family for them." _the detective said as he puffed some more from the Kent cigar._

"No..." _Roger said as his hands clasped in some fury, the cuffs clanking against the chair._

"Why are you so disappointed, huh?"

"I wanted to take the kid with me. But not like you so _stupidly_ thought," _Roger said, a tone of anger in his voice._

"Well, until we find evidence it wasn't **you** the killer...you're gonna stay a while in here. I'll not place Frisk just yet under the Social Services' care. I will look after the child until your release." _Richards said as he extinguished the cigar._

"What gives me the _guarantee_ I'll be out of here?" _the young man before him said, gritting through his teeth._

"The one that _truth will set you free._ "

* * *

 **A small Author's Note: If you noticed that reference to the SOUL of Integrity...well, let me fill a bit of info in here.  
**

 **The SOUL of Integrity, in this particular Universe, was a teenage-close-to-adult human that fell in the Underground a long time ago, and reached up to Snowdin.**

 **Papyrus, before he became star of the Underground, fell in love with this particular human. And for the remainder of her route, she seemed happy with Papyrus, that is until she got bored of the skeleton and decided to initiate a Genocide Route, putting Sans through a rather complicated situation - he had to kill the former lover of his brother. He never told Papyrus what happened.  
**


	5. Chapter Four: Playing with Fire

**Toriel: Someone is in for a fiery time.**

 **Shamir: And things are still not looking good, are they?**

 **Me: Ugh, I've had a hard time writing this, you know? I don't even think I got two characters right.**

 **Shamir: No worries. Even if that is a jumble, the rest is surely enjoyable!**

 **Edit: I have fixed an error in the plot. Napstablook is corrupted by Flowey, while Chara makes a later appearance.**

 **And so the next chapter begins!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR: PLAYING WITH FIRE  
**

 _ **[Feline Royal Guard HQ, a few minutes after the fight]**_

 _Toriel was standing tall in front of the teen monster that **dared** to attack a highly ranked monster, her eyes narrowed down to the point one could hear the muscles twitching, her irises a blazing red and her paws strongly folded, as if preventing herself to burn Shamir's attacker to a crisp. Nobody wanted to be the target of Queen Toriel's ire - Shamir's fury was a simple tantrum fit in comparison to what Toriel could do to someone. And Undyne was about to be on the receiving end of that particular fury, which Asgore did not reprimand - he knew Toriel could be extremely vicious when she wanted to be - his task at paw was to heal the poor jaguar captain that took a rather unfortunate blow in his shoulder, which broke the bone and tore the flesh apart.  
_

 _Alphys was also furious at her sister, and her own wrath was no less smaller than Queen Toriel's - she **hated** the idea to obtain something without appealing to reason first - and while she fully backed Undyne up, doing such a thing wasn't really necessary. The small lizard's glasses were shining white, as if it was the first time she and the queen agreed on something, her claws shaking with some amount of rage. This was about to be ugly for her sister - and she sighed, knowing it all relied on her and the Queen of the Underground to set her sister back on track._

 **'Undyne, why did you have to get yourself through this?'** _the small lizard thought as a small frown formed on her face, eyes narrowed to the point of anger. She then nodded towards Toriel, as the Queen set herself aside for a moment._

 _SCRATCH! SCRATCH!  
_

 _Two sets of red claw marks were now on Undyne's face, dripping with small amounts of blood, while Undyne looked in shock at her smaller sister, whose tears started to flow behind her glasses.  
_

"ALPH-", _Undyne managed to choke out, eyes still wide on Alphys,_ "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

 **"You want a reason to that?"** _Alphys said, her face darkening, a sinister smile arising on her face._ **"I can't believe just how blind you can be."**

"Alphy...why are you looking at me like that?"

 _Alphys summoned a small ball of electricity in her claw and threw it violently towards Undyne, kicking her in her ribs and a few paces back. Undyne gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, but she decided not to act on her internal rage. Toriel was watching with interest, while casting a few glances towards Asgore, whose healing was almost done.  
_

 **"You're not thinking straight, you see..."** _Alphys said as her glasses shone white, while her claw was filled with electricity._ "Shamir looks like he has opposed you for a good while. And you look like you were pretty beat up by him. **What the hell happened here? Why did he have to be impaled like that?!** "

"HE FORCED ME TO WAIT SOME MORE," _Undyne bellowed as a spear formed in her hand and inadvertently threw nearly inches close to Alphys' position, while the latter gazed with huge eyes as her sister's attempt._

"I don't care. I backed you up because I really wanted to see you in the Guard. But no, you just have to screw things up your way!"

 _In that moment, Toriel talked to Asgore, as she hovered above the jaguar captain with worry - her husband said that the wound was soundly healed - yet, the jaguar was still in mortal peril. He was poisoned, and that was why he still had his eyes closed - however, Asgore was dilligent enough to ask Sans for an antidote. Toriel sighed in relief, knowing there was still hope for the Captain, because he represented a huge part of the authority over these lands, and losing him meant a terrible blow to the monsters' morale._

She then turned towards the two sisters that were bickering and stopped Alphys with a gentle paw over her shoulder.

" **I** will take it from here, Alphys. Please, do your best to assist King Asgore in taking Captain Shamir far away from here." _Toriel said, with a stern expression on her snout._

"Of course, your Highness." _Alphys said as she hurriedly went to Ribras, Rasha and Asgore._

"Shamir needs to recover," _Asgore said with a pause,_ "but there's nothing I can do, if Sans won't be able to create an antidote for this poison we found in his blood."

"Sire, do not think like that!" _Ribras said,_ "Sans the Royal Scientist will find a way out of this misery."

"Let us hope on that, Guard Ribras." _the goat King replied, a heavy sigh leaving his breath._ "Parvos will be acting as front escort, while Alphys here will watch our back."

"Of course, Sire!" _the white leopard Parvos said as he quickly moved in position._

"Right." _Alphys nodded as she stood behind Ribras, Rasha and Asgore._

"Let's get a move on. If he wakes up on the way, please, try to tone his anger down." _Asgore carefully instructed his companions._

 ** _[Meanwhile, in Sans and Papyrus's home...]_**

"UNDYNE DID WHAT?!" _Papyrus yelled louder than usual, completely taken aback by the news Sans brought to him._

"yup. she pinned shamir to the wall like he was a _puss_ ter." _Sans replied grimly, even if he couldn't help dishing out a pun._

"A pusster? What's-" _Papyrus stopped in the middle of his sentence as his expression turned to blatant anger._

"i-" _Sans said sheepishly, sweat dropping off his skull, while shifting nervously from one foot to another._

 _"_ I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND HOW CAN YOU MAKE PUNS ABOUT SUCH A TRAGIC EVENT." _Papyrus deadpanned._

"sorry, paps. you're right, i shouldn't be dishing out puns in the middle of-" _Sans facepalmed._ "and here i stand like an idiot wasting time. gotta go bro, sorry. and good luck with your tour - again."

"THANK YOU BROTHER! I PROMISE, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED BY WHAT I'M GOING TO DO. " _the tall, dashing skeleton said._

"ya might wanna avoid waterfall for a time. i have a **bad** feeling in my bones..." _Sans said as he warped out to his lab._

 _Papyrus was wearing a different tuxedo than the black one - it was a blue one that had a small red heart as a pin-badge, and inside one of the pockets laid his trusty microphone._ "IT'S SHOW TIME!" _Papyrus said as he walked out the door, towards the small red car with blue stripes he drove throughout the Underground, aiming to please his fans wherever he went. With a happy grin on his face, he set the course for the Ruins, where small Froggits and Whimsuns enjoyed Papyrus' shows. But while the Ruins weren't exactly the best place to hold a magnificent show, he was a star, and what doesn't a star do to please his fans?_

 _After a good fifty minutes drive, he was in front of the giant, purple Ruins door that was adorned with the Delta rune on it - and he pushed said door with force, while smiling towards the hidden camera in the bushes that his brother placed there, to watch out for any dangers._

 ** _[At the end of Ruins]_**

 _He didn't remember the Ruins being so dark, but his ever-going optimism made him look at life with a brilliant view, so it was typical of Papyrus to think something like,_ **'IT MIGHT BE JUST THE LACK OF LIGHT...'** _while he went down the narrow corridor which brought back good memories of his previous tours...but also of previous love._ **  
**

["Hey, Papyrus. Isn't it cozy down here, love?" _Patricia said, while she held the bony hand of her lover._

"YES, YES IT IS...W-WHEN I'M WITH YOU." _Papyrus said, a furious tint of blue blush covering his skull._

"What would you do if I wasn't here?" _Patricia asked coyly._

"I WOULD PROBABLY FREEZE." _Papyrus stated, matter-of-factly._

"Papyrus, you're starting to rub off from Sans, you know that?" _she said, a small laughter escaping her._

"I CAN'T REALLY ESCAPE MY BROTHER'S INFLUENCE..." _Papyrus sighed,_ "BUT HE'S A GREAT BROTHER, NONETHELESS!"]

 _He reached the large, grey staircase that led to the old house of Toriel and Asgore, where Papyrus and Patricia used to spend a lot of time together, far away from monsters and trouble. He never knew why she was gone, or where was she, as he realised that these memories were returning in full force for a while._

 _Maybe one day, he would reach the Surface, find her._

 _There were so many things he wanted to say, but felt like he never had a chance to._

 _He sighed, and opened the door that led towards another large staircase, and made it outside the former Dreemurrs' residence as fast as he could, not wanting to remember anything right now._ **'I have to focus, my fans are waiting for me!'** _  
_

 _But Papyrus' fate was about to remain unknown..._

 ** _[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]_**

 _Sans was squinting his eyes towards the computer screen, analyzing and re-analyzing the formula of the poison, struggling to isolate something that would give out the antidote._ **'c'mon, this can't be happening! i have to! i have to press on, have to save my buddy...'** _he thought as sweat was bedding in large amount on his skull, and his bony fingers were typing as fast as they could every known formula, while stopping for a while to search through mountains of paper - the solution had to be there. He never let any challenge topple him, no matter how big or small that challenge was, something he shared with Alphys. They were best buddies for as long as he knew her, yet there was something different about the way he looked at her sometimes._ **  
**

 _Even Papyrus would tease him about that._

["BROTHER, ADMIT IT. YOUR FEELINGS HAVE CHANGED." _Papyrus noogied his brother._

"wha'? i don't- no. my feelings for alphys haven't changed in the slightest. she's the best buddy i've ever had. though...i find her kinda cute sometimes." _Sans blushed a bit, a faint tint of blue on his bony cheeks._

"THERE, YOU SEE? YOU JUST CALLED HER CUTE. WHAT FRIEND CALLS ANOTHER FRIEND CUTE?" _Papyrus grinned._

"stop it, paps." _Sans said, trying to scare his brother with his deathly stare, but Papyrus wasn't buying it._

"IF YOU WERE HONEST ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS - _LIKE I AM_ \- YOU WOULD STOP LOOKING HER FROM AFAR AND YOU'D BE LOOKING IN HER EYES." _the taller skeleton said, as he adopted his usual dashing position._

"ya mean...see more _eye-to-eye?_ " _Sans said, smirking._

"JUST WHEN I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DROP A PUN, YOU DO." _Papyrus deadpanned._ ]

 **'it was like, "admit you love alphys or i will make fun of you all of your life, sans"...'** _the scientist skeleton mused as a small grin formed on his face._ **'my brother can be really annoying sometimes, but he helped me through a lot.'** _Sans paused for a moment in his line of thoughts,_ **'if i would be losing him - i would tell everyone to stop pitying my sanity anymore. i would not vouch for my actions.'**

 _Perhaps he will confess his love to Alphys someday, but right now, his main task at hand was Shamir. And results were failling to show up, but he was determined to have them, one way - or another._

 ** _[Meanwhile, in Waterfall...]_**

 _Undyne and Toriel were sitting one against the other, as if making a contest of stares - the teen fish monster was looking at the goat monster in annoyance, while the Queen of the Underground's eyes were slitted with rage. It looked as if neither were yet ready to make a move, to start a battle, but Toriel knew she had to instill some discipline in this rabid child before her. She knew Shamir wasn't giving out everything that he had, for Undyne wouldn't be before her if that happened - but it was something the teen before did not realise as she impaled the jaguar.  
_

 _Undyne, on the other hand/fin, was still displeased that she didn't manage to reach some sort of agreement with Shamir. But something else was also nagging at her - Alphys' words. She'd never seen her little sister so mad at her, it felt so unreal to see the small lizard at the edge of her fury. Maybe she knew Shamir? Or grew close enough to him to care?_ **'Nah, if it would've been that, she would've made a run for him,'** _the fish monster was thinking as she looked at the empty space where the four monsters were standing, watching over the wounded jaguar captain,_ **'maybe she got pissed I hurt one of her friends, that would make much more sense...'** _Undyne drew her conclusion as she summoned a spear._

 _Toriel's eyes squinted at the sight of the spear and began propping her hind legs deep in the ground, her front paws out in defense._

"Hmph. I don't understand why you'd want to scold me so badly. My sister already handled that pretty well." _Undyne said as she toyed around with the blue spear._

"Your time for disciplination is far from being **over**." _Toriel said as she placed her paws upwards, small flickers of fire forming in her palms._

"You sound really **angry** , Your Highness," _the fish monster said as she summoned armor on herself,_ "and that is the sound of a **challenge** to me."

"I have nothing to add on the matter. Challenge or not, you'll be **set straight** right here, right now." _the Queen of the Underground bellowed in a raged voice._

 _Toriel started shooting out fireballs towards Undyne, which the latter managed to avoid with some difficulty, while extinguishing a few with her spear - but she was forced to summon spear after spear as the contact with fire melted them away. She then summoned a larger spear, and jumped in mid-air as she aimed for Toriel's opening, yelling in rage as she saw her victory - but her spear melted and she got some burns as she was welcomed by Toriel's defensive fire shield. Undyne looked flabbergasted as she backed a few paces and started summoning two waves of sharp spears that aimed to pierce the goat monster, but the Queen wasn't going to make things simple for the fish monster, so she countered the waves with rapid fireballs, while summoning a bigger fireball she threw at Undyne.  
_

 _The mermaid-fish saw the ball coming and, in fear, placed both of her hands/fins forward, in an attempt to summon a shield of water. A vague wall of water manifested itself before her, though its' only advantage was that it cooled down the ball a few degrees that it actually was, before it hit her and knocked her on the ground. She shook her head, her eyes glinting with fury and determination, and began summoning a huge spear that was aimed for Toriel._

"You are getting on my nerves, old lady! But I'm not just about to let you walk away with no injuries!" _Undyne bellowed as she launched the spear._

 _Toriel wasn't flinching at this attack, knowing that the teen was - most assuredly - out of any new attacks to pull on her, and the goat pyrokinetic did nothing but counter the huge spear with an equally sized fireball.  
_

"And I'm not going to spare you any breath," _Toriel retorted as she summoned waves of rapid fire, that forced Undyne to jump away from their heat._

 **'She's fierce, no doubt about that. She keeps me at bay willingly, as if she's not a fan of close contact. Well - that is her weakness!'** _Undyne thought as she coated one of her new water spears with poison, and began rapidly advancing towards Toriel, using her agility to avoid the attacks headed her way. Toriel saw where this was headed, and decided to jump away from the insane charge, but the fish monster was having none of it as she began swinging at the goat monster with fury, cutting through her fur and poisoning her in the process._

"You're gonna have the same fate as he did." _Undyne said as a sinister smile was plastered on her face, while Toriel stopped herself from fighting._

"Maybe. But I want to tell you something though, Undyne." _Toriel said sternly._

"What. What could you possibly tell me-" _Undyne bellowed in some anger, until Toriel raised a paw to silence her._

"Shamir _wasn't giving out all of his strength_ in your battle against him. He _didn't want to hurt you_ , but that won't stop me. Even if I'm going to be crippled by this poison, you should know that Shamir was actually very proud of your progress." _the goat queen said as she tried to steady herself._

"Why should I believe you, huh? _You're going to die._ " _the fish monster looked at Toriel in puzzlement._

"That's why you should believe me. My husband and I went to great lengths to ensure that Shamir will be a powerful and just warrior to lead the Guard. I could sense some magical reserves inside his SOUL. He wasn't using his most powerful abilities against you." _Toriel continued, as she held onto her right arm._

"He did use some badass swords on me...it still hurts." _Undyne said as she could feel the hurt on her scales._

"He can handle those swords with efficiency if there's no careful blow to place. If he is planning to give out a blow with that ability - _it is enough to turn someone to dust._ But that planning comes with a cost, as his magic is partially gone - along with a part of his stamina." _Toriel said as she began falling to her knees due to the effect of the poison._

"Are you serious? If he would've been striking in full force-" _Undyne's mouth went agape._

"Yes." _Toriel nodded as she felt her eyes slowly closing._

 _Undyne's eyes widened in shock, as she summoned away her next spear and plopped on the ground, starting to rub her forehead, while Toriel heard this before she collapsed._

"The poison can be cured by Sans' and Alphys' magic. If he can figure that out in due time to save you both..."

 ** _[Asgore's bedroom in New Home...]_**

 _The five monsters carefully placed Shamir on the king-sized bed, while their expressions were betraying worry and sadness. Each of them was hoping that Shamir will be saved, as everything was relying on Sans' genius. Alphys, however, wasn't going to stand there doing nothing, so she walked out of New Home with Asgore's permission. She took the long elevator that led towards the CORE, and from there, she focused her mind on teleporting._ **'I have to reach Sans. Something has to be done!'** _she thought as suddenly, a whirr of electricity and light began enveloping the small lizard, until she disappeared completely._ _  
_

 _Inside the bedroom, the four remaining monsters were sharing their thoughts, trying to find a ray of optimism in this sea of sadness all over them._

"He was really awesome back there, putting the brat in place." _Ribras said as he sat on a red armchair Asgore used for reading._

"He's awesome at boxing too. If you'd see how he knocked me out." _Parvos said, as he was supporting himself off a wall._

"There was never any hostility in his actions back there, Ribras, did you see?" _Rasha said as she stood next to Shamir, on the other end of the bed._

"All I know is that I have a really bad feeling inside me." _Asgore said as he left out a sad sigh, while the others looked at him in surprise._

"Don't worry, Sire. Not everything is lost...yet." _Parvos said as he searched for a pipe he used to smoke from._

"Please, do not-" _Asgore said as he shook his paws in desperation at Parvos' pipe._

"It's just for decoration. Shamir gifted it to me for my birthday...and I gave him a pipe too. His is a pure white."

"This is really good craftsmanship," _Ribras said as he cast a glance at Parvos' pipe._ "maybe we should ask for a Delta rune donning on our captain's pipe?"

"I'm afraid that is Toriel's specialty," _Asgore said, but the moment he relinquished Toriel's name, a heartache went through his chest._

 **'Tori...** **I hope you're safe.'**

 _ **[Sans and Papyrus' home]**_

 _It was the first time Alphys used teleportation._

 _And she landed just outside the skeleton brothers' house, thankfully, but was still a bit wobbly after this experience - Sans explained to her it would be quite bad first time - but she didn't **yet** go through teleportation's side effects, like nausea, constant disorientation, fear of light. In some ways, that was good as she wanted to halt those effects for as long as possible right now. Shamir was in a really bad situation and Sans couldn't do everything alone, but nobody knew that someone else was also in danger of dying from poisoning. Then again, Alphys was still mad at her sister for outright aiming to kill one of her friends...  
_

 _She found Sans working on the formula, and he looked almost - desperate - but also kinda cute._ **'Gah, Alphys, what the hell is wrong with you?'** _she mentally chastised herself, but she couldn't stop looking at the skeleton before her. They had so many things in common - well, perhaps apart from animes - and she was also very impressed with the amount of dedication he was giving out to his secret project, amongst other things he was doing to make sure the Underground was going well in matters of technology._

"Sans?"

"gah, alphys!" _the small skeleton said as he fell off the chair in panic._ "wh- what are you doing in here? you were-"

"Shamir's safe in New Home", _Alphys paused,_ "well, as safe as he can be, right now."

"ah. i see. well...i've tried to figure out this damned formula, but nothing ever works." _Sans said as he looked at the computer screen hopelessly._

"Let's see what two heads can do in this matter," _Alphys said as she looked at the formula herself._

 **'she's so cute when she smiles so awkwardly like that...'** _Sans thought as he gave her a curious glance._

 **'He's so funny when he looks lost like a puppy.'** _Alphys was thinking as she was examining the numbers on the screen._

 _The two were so close to one another, the tension in the air so dense you could cut through it with a knife. It was almost as if they were and weren't aware of the gazes they gave each other - when Sans pretended not to look, Alphys did - and viceversa, until they began rambling about science and magic.  
_

"Maybe it's about magic. She usually coats her spears with this poison, but it's used only when she's in full anger."

"but what kind of magic could be countering such a dangerous poison..."

"Sans? I-" _Alphys looked at him, with a faint blush on her snout._

"what is it, alphys?" _Sans looked at her, with a funny smile on his bony face._

"Nothing. Let's just carry- _mmph!_ " _she said as she was cut off by a kiss placed on her snout._

 _Her tongue resisted, at first, the temptatious lips(?) of the skeleton, but she decided there will be no going back after this moment. She steeled her courage and returned the kiss, a surge of determination in her veins. Sans's free hand was glowing with blue magic as he kissed Alphys fervently, and Alphys' free hand was glowing with yellow magic, but they were too busy to see that they actually discovered the cure for the poison._

 _Only love could cure hatred's venom..._

 ** _[Ruins]_**

"HELLO? ANYBODY IN HERE?" _Papyrus asked as he treaded through the darkened corridors of the Ruins, until he reached a cave with a green spot in the middle and a powerful light beaming down that particular green spot. He saw a yellow flower growing in there, and decided to be as friendly as he could while passing through the room._

"YES. THERE'S SOMEONE IN HERE. ME!" _the flower answered as it turned its' almost robotic face towards Papyrus, speaking somewhat glitch-like._

"AND WHO MIGHT BE YOU?" _Papyrus asked as he pulled out his microphone, like he was taking an interview._

"I'M FLOWEY. FLOWEY THE FABULOUS FLOWER. **AND YOU ARE MY NEXT GLAMOROUS VICTIM!** " _the glitch-like flower said with a twisted grin._

"WH-WHY? I H-HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING!" _Papyrus said as he felt his monster SOUL pulled out in battle._

"POOR SWEET PAPYRUS. DON'T WORRY, NOBODY IS GOING TO MISS YOU. RIGHT, BLOOKY?" _the glitched flower said as a ghost appeared behind him.  
_

" _ **yes...it will be just as you said...**_ " _the ghost said as he let out a banshee-like screech that made Papyrus's bones rattle gravely._

"DUST WILL BE EVERYWHERE!" _Flowey, the glitched flower said, a maniacal laughter echoing in the room._

 ** _[Wichita Police HQ, Surface.]_**

"This isn't going like we hoped."

"Yeah, but you see, there's nobody that saw that guy, apart from Roger."

"But he described him head to toe. And there's no way it could be him, he's shorter by an inch! And what if his footprints were there - no gun was found in the torpedo of that truck."

"What about the kid?"

"Kid doesn't know anything."

"Ugh...so you were right. Truth has to set him free."


	6. Chapter Five: There's Only One Truth

**This chapter focuses on the Surface.  
**

 **I'm really honest, it was rather hard to write and exhausting as well.  
**

 **I hope it doesn't look incredibly sloppy *sweatdrops***

 **Someone's name gets cleared up, but the case isn't over...yet.**

 **Let's get this started!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FIVE: THERE'S ONLY ONE TRUTH  
**

 _ **[Wichita Police HQ, afternoon]**_

 _A dead end.  
_

 _That's how most officers were looking at Sam's murder case, but the lieutenant didn't want to just drop the investigation. He was certain of the man's guilt, albeit he did struggle to find - anything - on days and nights have gone by, and that pile of evidence didn't grow any larger. It was frustrating, added with the fact that the young man was acknowledged by the other police departments as a reliable sleuth - and for him to end up in Richards' custody was a shocking news for those who knew the researcher._

 _The lieutenant sat at his mahogany desk, on which a lot of files were piling up at the edges - some of them had a date, some did not -, a white large cup and various scattered pens. Next to him was a large sofa, where he threw his trenchcoat and which acted as a bed for the nights he was sitting at the headquarters - and if he was being honest with himself, he needed sleep so badly. He must've drank like, four or five cups of coffee to keep himself awake as he studied the files on his desk, but his eyes were slowly closing at the amount of exhaustion on the lieutenant's face. He was pretty adamant that Roger was guilty, and nobody would deter him from proving that. He then stopped mid-reading, shaking a bit his head to knock off sleepiness, and drank some more coffee from the large white cup, which was, at a closer examination, a bit chipped. The dark liquid seemed to keep him up and about, but the excess of caffeine is visible only later. He then returned to his reading, eyebrows furrowed in focus, searching for discrepancies in the reports._ _  
_

 _He did so for another half an hour, until the large, grey phone on the desk rang furiously._

 _RING! RING! RING!_ _  
_

 **'Okay, okay, what the hell is it this time? Some low-class murder? Some bitchy woman that complains about her cheating husband?'** _he thought in annoyance as he picked up the phone and answered with a tired, grave voice:_

"Wichita PD, lt. Drew Richards on the phone. What is it?"

"Lieutenant," _the female voice at the end said curtly,_ "I am Captain Sandra Torres, from Denver PD. I have called you about Roger Warforth."

 **'Maybe I'll finally have a lead...'** _Richards mused as he paused for a moment before answering Captain Torres._

"Lieutenant?" _Captain Torres said, mild irritation in her voice._

"Right here. What is this about Roger Warforth?" _he answered, picking up the hint of hostility._

"You are to _release_ him this instant." _the voice on the other end said, almost commanding._

 **'What the heck?! Is this woman out of her mind?!'** _Richards thought as his eyes were widened, eyebrows twitching, setting for an answer to give at this suggestion, until he decided for a clear, cut-through refusal of this._

" **No.** " _Richards said icily, as he smashed the phone's reciever back in the fork, ending the call._

 _The lieutenant was much more concerned with the child's fate he took under his care - until Roger's guilt was proven, anyway - and couldn't help thinking he wasn't exactly a replacement, or a father figure for the kid. He was usually gone for a lot of hours, and Richards didn't have a wife, but made sure that the kid could feed themselves and get to bed without any issues. Kid never said anything about the conditions, they were content with the fact that they had a roof over their head and enough food - but there was one thing Richards outright refused to Frisk._

["Don't ask me about Roger again. He's not your friend." _Drew said, puffing from a cigar._

"But he-" _Frisk tried to reason with the man before them, as much as they could._

"No. He killed the man you were with." _Drew stated matter-of-factly._

"What?" _the child tilted their head in confusion._

"Your friend Sam is **dead** , kid. He ain't coming back." _the gruff lieutenant said as he shook his head._ ]

 **'That day, the kid just ...shut themselves in. Completely.'** _Richards thought as he searched through his pockets for a Kent cigar, only to realise he was out of smokes for now._ "Shit." _he uttered between his teeth as he picked up his brown, worn trenchcoat from the sofa and walked out the dark brown elm door that had a golden plate on the front, his name written clearly. Outside his office, policemen and women of all heights and races were either running back and forth with papers, answering calls of distress or even bringing out vicious criminals to put behind bars._ **  
**

 _Speaking of criminals, his lips formed a small pout as his case was standing on thin air. What kind of a detective he claimed to be, if the evidence was contradicting some of the facts?_ **'Maybe I should've read more on Sherlock Holmes. That guy was one tough detective, he could figure out the case with just a few facts to rely on.'** _he mused as he walked past his colleagues and went towards the elevator. Watkins and Dmitri couldn't help notice that their chief was tired - maybe too tired - to work on the case right now, so they began to talk only when Richards was out of earshot._ _  
_

"Sheesh, did you see his face? He looked like a zombie." _Dmitri couldn't help deadpanning._

"Guess that's what three days and nights almost unslept can do to you. But if he goes like that..." _Watkins said as she shook her head._

"He's thinking that guy down there did it, with no doubt about that." _Dmitri said, as he resumed looking at a few files._

"But Warforth admitted that he walked in on the crime scene. And this fella-" _the female officer_ _said as she took out the portrait of the man Roger described._

"-is still a big unknown to either of us." _Dmitri deadpanned._ "If only there was a similar case to this one, things would be easier for both lt. Richards and Warforth down there."

 _As the two officers were chit-chatting about Roger's state, the latter was sharing a cell with a hulk-like convict, known for his substance abuse and murder. Roger was good at reading people since he was an amateur sleuth, but his current abilities weren't enough. He sighed at the thought of spending here God-knows-how long time until he's put up for trial and then moved to an interstate prison - certainly one with maximum security - but something made him sadder than going not guilty to the prison.  
_

 _It was Frisk._

 _He knew that the young child was under lt. Richards' care, and while the latter promised he wouldn't send Frisk to some orphanage - he knew that one way or the other, that was bound to happen - but he didn't want to walk out of the child's life without even having the opportunity to say goodbye to them. Roger was about to get to sleep, when the afro-american guard that was on duty called his name._

"Warforth. Move, you're going for interrogation." _the man said as he opened the cell door and cuffed Roger's hands._

 _The small corridor had one dim lightbulb that shone above the steel door that separated the cells from the rest of the precinct, and the guard pushed Roger ahead, seeing the latter wasn't eager to move._ "Move, man!" _the guard shouted as he directed the convict with care towards the interrogation room. The cuffs' chain was making a jangling noise that irked Roger to no end, but he knew that this was the deal with cuffing someone - and anyway, the sound stopped as the guard placed a firm hand on his right shoulder, a thing he was grateful for._ "Wait," _the guard ordered as he knocked the door three times and officer Dmitri was waiting on the other side._ _  
_

"Put the prisoner on that chair." _the Russian officer said as he sat down across the table, while the guard seated Roger on the leftmost chair._ "You can go."

"Right, sir." _the guard said as he closed the interrogation room's door, a steel-like door like the others._

 _Dmitri looked at the prisoner before him - Roger lost a few kilograms, looked like didn't sleep really well lately, and his convict uniform was torn a bit on one side - and shook his head at the horrible state the man was. He decided to play the good cop, hoping he would obtain a new piece of information - something, anything that would solve this case.  
_

"Hey, Roger. How're you holding up?" _the officer said as he placed his hands on the table and tilted his head._

"Want to know the truth? You'll say it was a lie, anyway." _Roger said bitterly, as he placed his cuffed hands on the table._ "No matter how many times you interrogate me, you're just going to say I'm lying. That the facts say I was the killer, while I know the evidence isn't enough. You still care to deal with someone that knows their way around detective work?"

"Look. I don't think it's easy. But there is really no evidence to link the man you described to the crime scene. For all we know, you might _come up_ with the story just to-" _Dmitri began to say, but was silenced by the loud, metallic bang on the table Roger made with the cuffs._

 **"How many times do you want me to repeat myself?"** _Roger bellowed in an angry tone._ " **I didn't see any distinctive mark on the guy-** ", _but Roger stopped mid-sentence, as he remembered a detail he seemed to have overlooked until now._

[He remembered seeing a distinctive dog-tag coming from under the man's T-shirt. It had a curious symbol, one of a flaming sword.]

"He had a dog-tag, with a flaming sword on it." _the young man said as he sat down in anger._

"No way. This- you don't have one, no?" _Dmitri asked as he looked at Roger, who shook his head in strong disapproval._ "Wow. Lt. Richards mentioned these guys before, when we were talking down in the car...Looks like you're going to be free, _after all!"_

"Tch." _Roger huffed as a small smile plastered on his face.  
_

"Call for Lt. Richards. We just got a new clue on the Warforth case." _Dmitri said to one of the officers that passed by as he opened the door._

"There was a similar case just four weeks ago. But it was pretty clean and simple - a woman killed her husband, and at first, nobody thought she could be the culprit - until there goes this call that said [We found a vital clue to this case - a dog-tag with a flaming sword.] and then bam, we just arrested her and she got up in jail a week ago.

"Looks like somebody's organizing a criminal gang, to me." _Roger said as he waited patiently for Richards' arrival._

 _The lieutenant seemed to have lost all of his composure as he heard about the clue - he was downright certain Warforth was guilty - and he was **pissed** when he walked in the interrogation room and shot a deathly stare towards Roger, which the latter didn't notice. Richards folded his arms as his deathly stare was still there, and began speaking to the young cuffed man before him in a gruff, borderline-aggresive tone:  
_

"You could've said that before, you-" _Richards huffed._ "Were you keeping that a secret, like some sort of old detective?" _  
_

"I didn't remember that until _now_. And what about our deal, where's Frisk?" _Roger shot his head up, his brows furrowed in concern._

"I _should_ arrest you on the charge of tampering with the crime scene. And of withhelding crucial information - _more precisely_ , obstruction of an investigation." _the well-built lieutenant said as his eyes were pinned on Roger._ "But since I can't take care of the kid - and the moment I told them you killed Sam -"

 **"YOU DID WHAT?!"** _Roger's eyes were ablaze with fury._ **"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU GOT IN THEIR HEAD NOW?! DO YOU EVEN REALISE THE-"** _Roger's rant was cut off by a violent blow to his head, the man falling on the cold floor._ **  
**

 _The two policemen were looking at one another, until Richards asked Dmitri to make all the forms to release Roger, and then take Frisk. He also asked the officer to find the two someplace nice to stay for the night. Dmitri nodded with no hesitation, and then took the fainted Roger away from the interrogation room. After Dmitri left, the lieutenant rubbed his forehead in vexation, trying to understand what did he do, for Roger to get so furious at him. He was just telling the truth, for what was worth - the kid had to know - but discarded the thought when he walked inside his office and plopped on the large sofa, not bothering to do anything else. It was as if he said an absolute no to working, at least for today, and all the sleepless nights were finally catching up on him - he drifted off to sleep.  
_

 ** _[Somewhere in Wichita...]_**

 _An usual police car was patrolling on the streets of Wichita, with a fainted man and a small child in the back. Frisk was not pleased to hear that they had to leave, but complied nonetheless as they carried a small blue rucksack in which they had the Stick, a few bags of chips, some orange juice - and the moment they saw Roger, there were some mixed feelings about the young, fainted man in the backseat of the police car. Nevertheless, they took a seat in the front, putting the seatbelt and impressing Dmitri, who was father for two children. He had never seen such a smart child, but he could notice the bitter expression on Frisk's face - it looked almost like he didn't want to see Roger at all.  
_

"Wow, nice, kid!" _the Russian officer said as he sat behind the wheel and started the car._

"Thank you." _Frisk politely replied, returning a fake smile towards the officer._

"So, aren't you happy that Roger is free?" _the man said, trying to make some conversation._

"Mr...D-Drew told me s-something about Roger. He s-said that Roger i-isn't my friend." _the small child said with a hint of sorrow in their voice._

"Why wouldn't he be your friend, huh? He seemed pretty concerned about you." _Dmitri retorted, looking at the sad child that supported their head with one hand._

"Mr. Drew said that he was a bad man. And that Roger killed Sam..." _Frisk's eyes filled with tears as they relinquished the very words lt. Richards told them._

"It's not true, Frisk. If you would've seen just how mad Roger got, when he heard this thing..."

 _In the backseat, Roger was slowly awakening from his unconsciousness, his head hurting like he was kicked by a mule and grunted in some pain. He could discern faint light that went back and forth, and two sillhouettes that looked like...chairs? He wasn't really sure, and lifted a hand to his head with difficulty - only to feel something gooey sticking to his fingers - and blinked a few times to make sure he really was what he thought he saw.  
_

 _Blood._

 _Multiple hazy thoughts were running through his head, like where he got wounded, who did this to him and where was he, until he heard a familiar voice calling out to him, while still driving._

"Hey, Roger, good to know you're awake. We'll be taking you to the hospital, to check on that nasty wound." _the slender officer said, as a small chuckle escaped him.  
_

"We?" _Roger asked groggily, still trying to process where was he._

"Yup, your little friend is here too. But I expected him to be a little more _lively_ to hear you're free."

"Frisk..." _Roger called out, with an exhausted voice._ " **are you okay?** "

"Come on, answer him, Frisk." _Dmitri gently noogied the small child._ "That's a nice name, by the way." _  
_

"Yes, I am okay." _Frisk answered to Roger, tears still in their eyes._

"Lt. Richards was so insensitive to tell you that." _Roger said, as he tried to get up from the couch, yet found himself plopped back in._

"We're getting closer to Rawlings Hospital. Just hang on you two!" _Dmitri said as he sped up, turning on the sirens to make way ahead._

 ** _[Rawlings Hospital, Wichita]_**

 _The hospital was a modest one in outward appearance, the building looking like it had seen better days, but the inside was fully operational to the modern standards, as doctors were running back and forth, answering calls of distress. People often said that the Rawlings' building was one for which time stopped, yet not completely, and the joke was passed down in the community for many days now. Dmitri asked where the emergency room was, while Roger was still hurting from the blow and Frisk took, with a lot of shyness, the young man's hand. Roger mustered the energy to form an honest smile on his face, happy that Frisk was giving him a second chance - he wasn't really a father figure, but he tried his best - and gently returned the child's grasp.  
_

 _In the meantime, Dmitri's radio rolled out a call he didn't expect to hear,_ "All available units, we have a two-four-zero. I repeat, we have a 2-4-0 down Roddendery Street." _, but Dmitri hated to go without having any instructions._ "Dispatch, instructions?" _he asked while looking at the two newly-acquired friends he was looking after._

"Proceed with caution. Unit 15-6 has reported six gunmen." _the male dispatcher said, at the other end._

 **'Shit.'** _was all Dmitri could think, as nobody came yet to look after Roger. He exhaled, while some mild annoyance was written on his tired face, and answered the call:_ "Dispatch, Unit 22-4 takes in. ETA 10 minutes."

"Any doctor in here? I have a wounded man that needs attention!" _he yelled at the two nurses that were tinkering with some papers, at the reception desk._

"On it, we're sorry, officer. We have a lot to-" _one of the nurses said as she rose her head from the papers._

"I get it, just, look after this guy. Kid's with him, so don't dare separate them." _the slender Russian officer said as he ran for the car and sped away to reach his colleagues caught in an assault down Roddendery Street._

 _The nurse who answered Dmitri was a kind, blonde-haired woman that gave Frisk a small lollipop and asked them to come in the E.R, which was down a large corridor with lots of both wooden and metallic doors. Roger was having a hard time in steeling himself, while Frisk was happily licking the apple-flavoured lollipop and trying to keep up with the two adults in front of him. It was surely confusing and a bit noisy for the small child, but the room they were about to go in was worse than that - as they were about to find out - because they noticed the two adults stopping, and the blonde-haired woman opening the door of the E.R._

 _The emergency room itself wasn't a really large room - but it was large enough to cover for twelve patients at a time - Frisk wasn't really looking around, as their eyes were focused on the young man that was their protector. The other nurse, a dark-haired woman, called in for a Doctor Williams in the ER, an announcement that was heard even in this room. Roger was feeling nauseous, but tried not to show this, as he wanted to set an example for Frisk on how to be brave when things are bad. As they were waiting for Doctor Williams, the nurse took a look on Roger's wound. It was somewhat nasty, and required a few stitches, nothing more - but the fact that it caused Roger a state of nausea was concerning.  
_

 _Through the door entered a man in his twenties, red hair, red beard and a pale face, exhausted by tonight's guard. He looked at Frisk, and gently ruffled the child's hair, while looking at the wounded man that laid in the furthermost bed of the E.R, the latter noticing the rest of the room was filled with mostly sick patients, and not trauma victims **-** Roger exhaled in relief that Frisk wouldn't be subjected to the horrors of a full-of-blood ER where people got cut and all that stuff. Doctor Williams agreed to the previous observations of the blonde nurse, and asked her to start the procedure._

"Sir, I need you to stay still. You'll require some stitches." _the young doctor said._

"Frisk...d-don't look, okay, buddy?" _Roger said as he looked at the shocked child before him._

"I-I won't. Can-can I hold your hand, R-Roger?" _they timidly asked as their small fingers grasped at the larger left hand of the wounded man._

"Sure, buddy. I'm happy to have a friend like you here-" _Roger was cut off mid-speech by the insertion of a needle in the injured skin, making him hiss in pain._

 _Frisk didn't look, as they promised, but the grunts and hisses of pain from Roger were enough for the child to know it was a bad time for his friend. After the careful stitching, a bandage was placed to make sure the stitches would stay, allowing the wound to heal well. Roger held Frisk's hand a bit tighter, and tried to flash a smile at him, despite his wounds. Roger was allowed to leave only after the next day.  
_

* * *

 _I'm happy to have a friend like you...  
You went all the way to do this for me._

* * *

 _Roger was allowed to stay until after the next day, so he would recover from his nauseous state - he and Frisk were sharing a modest ward, with one large bed and a nightstand - and while the first slept quite peacefully during the night, Frisk was having a very, very curious dream that shifted into a nightmare - it felt **very real.**  
_

 _ **[?]**  
_

 _They were in a large, white room, with shiny obsidian tiles on the ground and a desk cramped with a lot of papers, as well as a large TV that showed his face on the screen. They weren't sure where they were - the scene felt oddly distant, yet oddly familiar to them. They didn't know why it was so dark in here - only for light to be called out by a female voice._ **  
**

"T-there you are, F-Frisk! I thought you wouldn't be here on time." they _heard the voice talking to them, while their back was turned._ "Uh, F-Frisk, h-hello?" _the voice got closer and they felt a claw getting ahold of their left shoulder. T_ _hey turned to see a yellow reptile dressed in a white lab coat and with shiny white glasses. She felt vaguely familiar to them...where did they meet her?_

 _Then they saw someone else coming through the door at the end of the room - a white, fluffy goat that was dressed in a green and cream sweater, with brown pants that they immediately hugged, but with no certain understanding why they did that._

 _They felt reality shifting around them as they felt pulled out by invisible hands, and threads that threatened to engulf them in silence._

 ** _[Unknown Ward, Rawlings Hospital]_**

 _Frisk awoke from the nightmare with wide eyes, gaping for air and coughing a bit to recover themselves, while sweat was bedding on their forehead - and the turmoil awoke Roger as well, who immediately hugged the small child as he saw the panicked expression on their face.  
_

"Had a nightmare, huh?" _Roger groggily asked as he held Frisk in his arms._

"Y-Yes..." _the small child said as they kept on the hug.  
_

"Don't worry, I know how these can be, eheh" _Roger said sheepishly._ "Want me to let the lantern on? That usually chases the nightmares away for me."

"S-Sure." _Frisk nodded strongly as they saw Roger putting the small lantern on the nightstand and turning it on._

 _The sight of that light filled Frisk with a bit of hope as they tugged on the white blanket and tried to get back to sleep, as Roger did - the latter was still under the influence of some morphine that Doctor Williams gave him for the pain in his skull. It didn't take too long for the child to fall back asleep, while Roger looked with bleary eyes as Frisk was now alright. Their adventure has been a rollercoaster, but it helped them grow a stronger bond than before - he exhaled softly as the night went away with no more nightmares.  
_

 ** _[The next day...]_**

 _Doctor Williams went at the ward, looking for a moment at the two sleeping humans and noticed the child was smiling softly, but he had to wake the two up, despite the rather serene moment in the room. Light was slowly creeping through the windows, and touched the metallic bedframes, basking them into a pure golden colour, and outside, nature was starting to move from the stillness of the night.  
_

"Rise and shine, Mr. Warforth." _the doctor said as he checked Roger's eyes._

"Oh, I'm discharged today, sir?" _Roger could utter._ "I have something very-very important to do." _the researcher said as he remembered his task at hand._

"Try to avoid hurting yourself if possible. If you can't avoid that though, be sure to not overstress yourself and stay careful when you'll have to walk. You'll have the sensation things will be fuzzy for some while."

"Things are a little fuzzy anyway- but thanks for the warning," _Roger nodded as he gently awoke Frisk._ "Hey, little one. Wake up, it's time to go."

 _Frisk left out a big yawn and rubbed their eyes, trying to adjust to daylight and then noticed the doctor from earlier. They were still a bit shy around most people, but nevertheless greeted them with a big smile._

"Kid's surely something," _Doctor Williams laughed._ "Well, I wish you good luck with what you do. By the way - officer Dmitri told me that there's a car outside, waiting for you two. It's all yours, because they noticed you don't have any means of transport."

"Wait, I-" _Roger wanted to say that he had a Caddilac, but the kind doctor silenced him._

"Your Caddilac was apparently stolen. That's why they have given you the car outside."

"Great." _Roger huffed._

 _Roger slowly walked, alongside Frisk, to the exit of Rawlings Hospital. It wasn't really easy for the young researcher to keep everything in check, but in that Caddilac laid his rations for a month - they would be sorely missed. He inhaled the chilly air that awoke his senses, dulled away by the still lingering morphine in his blood, while Frisk stood a lot closer, feeling the need for warmth. They headed towards a police officer that was guarding a black Ford Mustang, and the moment said officer saw the two coming his way, he greeted them with a military salute, and handed Roger the keys.  
_

"Inside are rations we were more than happy to share with you. We will let you know how the case goes."

"Thanks a lot," _Roger said towards the officer who went away in a military-like march._ "Okay, Frisk, let's see if we can eat something first." _he added as he opened the trunk, revealing lots of bags of bread, vegetables, some meat and various cans of soup in there, as well as a lot of water for the road._

 _They nibbled on some sandwiches made out of bread, vegetables and ham from the trunk, and Frisk felt much better with their tummy fed, because they shot Roger a beaming smile. Roger smiled back, while he closed the trunk and asked Frisk to stay in the back, seatbelt fastened and he got behind the wheel of the Mustang._ **'Let's see what this baby can do!'** _Roger thought excitedly as he turned the key and listened for the purring engine coming to life._

 _"Yeah!_ That's how epicness sounds, in my books!" _the young man yelled with joy._ "Sorry, Frisk. I'm usually very excited when something like _this_ happens," _he said with a sheepish smile, while Frisk smiled back in excitement too._

"Next stop...Ebotton, Kansas!"

"Where are we going?" _Frisk asked, not quite sure he heard Roger well._

"...Into the unknown, my friend." _the man said._

* * *

 **Me: Oh, will you look at that reference.**

 **Shamir: Huh?**

 **Me: Nothing, it's something for the readers to figure out. Also, someone will be pleased to see a small link with one of their previous stories!**

 **Shamir: When am I going to fight, Shock?  
**

 **Me: Things are starting to get ugly, Shamir, you'll have plenty of time to fight. I'll see you...in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter Six: Path of Peace

**CHAPTER SIX: PATH OF PEACE**

 **This chapter is another view of the Underground...**

 **Might want to expect some angst and some fluff in here, before the whole timeline _goes to the dogs...?_**

 **Shamir: *sweatdrops* There are no dogs-**

 **Me: There is ONE.**

 **Shamir: WHAT?! I'LL EXTERMINATE THE-**

 **Me: Chill. You're still with a _broken tail_.**

 **Shamir: Are you by any chance Sans in disguise?**

 **Me: ...nope.**

 **Let's get this chapter started!**

 _As Sans was too busy sharing a passionate moment with the lizard in front of him, Undyne came crashing on the two, unable to suppress a grin and a faint blush. Her sister was growing up, and it was really impressive - while she was just growing up in tenacity and training for her enrollment in the Royal Guard. Well, in what concerned that last part - it was not going to happen anytime soon, given what she did to Shamir and now, to Queen Toriel. She decided to, sadly, interrupt the cute moment between Sans and Alphys by clearing her throat, while the two were looking in shock, eyesockets/eyes widened and a furious blush on their faces. Sans left out a small chuckle as he tried to find a reasonable explanation for this, while Undyne didn't diminish her grin in the least:_

"No need to worry, Sans. I'm okay with Alphy dating you, really." t _he fish monster said as she looked at their - still - blushing faces._ "Guys...you really need to hurry with that cure."

"Why? What happened, 'Dine?" Alphys asked, as she noticed some sweat bedding on her sister's forehead.

"I _may have_ poisoned Queen Toriel too, during our fight." _Undyne admitted under Alphys' scrutinizing gaze._

"What did you-" _Alphys facepalmed in exasperation, while thinking just how **inconsiderate** her sister was._

"we didn't figure out the cure yet, undyne. as you can see, we were busy _heating_ ourselves up." _Sans said, grinning._

 _He did remark however, that some faint residual blue magic was still enveloping his left bony hand, while Alphys' right claw was enveloped in her yellow magic._ **'I wonder...'** _he thought as he picked her claw gently and intertwined his bony hand, while they were blushing at the touch. What followed next left the three monsters staring in awe, for the mingle of blue and yellow magic formed a beautiful green, as if eternal forests were just giving out their energy in this mingle._

"Whoa." _Undyne could say, after a few moments of staring at the green magic forming from Alphys and Sans' claw/hand, while the latter took two vials to store said magic in._ "This is so-"

"Mesmerizing," _completed Alphys, while she looked at the two vials,_ "but we have to cure two monsters _you_ have hurt, 'Dine." _the lizard added, a look of scorn on her face._

"Right. I'll apologize to them after they get the cure. Especially, Captain Shamir..." _the teen fish monster said, shifting her gaze in shame._

"let's get this started. alphy?" _Sans said as he looked at her._

"I'll take care of Queen Toriel's poisoning. You go with 'Dine. She **_owes_** someone a huge apology." _Alphys scoffed as a small grin formed on her snout and focused her teleporting powers._

 **[Waterfall, Royal Guards' grounds]**

 _In a flick of light, she disappeared, only to reappear in Waterfall, where the large female goat monster was laying still, eyes closed. 'Hope it's not too late...' Alphys thought as she hurried towards Toriel, whose wounds were somehow healing - apparently, even in an unconscious state, a Boss Monster's SOUL was somewhat aware of external damage done to the body. The lizard monster exhaled in relief, and awkwardly opened Toriel's snout, pouring the magic filled vial and watched as a soft, green aura enveloped the Boss Monster in front of her._

 _The cure was indeed working, and Toriel was lifted in that aura for a good few minutes, almost as if it sought to purify the body entirely, before she was laid back on the soft, humid grass below. Alphys approached the Queen meekly, hovering a bit over her body and hoping she will be opening her eyes. 'Please, please, tell me it worked,' the lizard monster thought in the dead silence of the Royal Guard's outside grounds as she fiddled with her claws._

 _The Queen's eyes flew open._

"Y-Your Highness?" _the small lizard looked at the glazed fury in Toriel's eyes._

"Your...sister..." _Toriel paused, struggling to find her words,_ "won't be escaping...m-my wrath that easily."

 _Alphys closed her eyes and, while she agreed with Toriel, she knew someone else would be better at giving Undyne the impulse to follow the right path._ **'I know that Shamir will be quite willing to set some things straight with 'Dine. And while she pissed Queen Toriel a lot, I will try to deter Her Majesty from pursuing her goal.'**

"Your Majesty, I believe Captain Shamir will do his best."

"Perhaps. Still, I have to think of a suitable punishment for your sister." _Toriel said as she placed her right paw over her forehead._ "But not at this moment - I am not feeling well."

 **[New Home, Asgore's bedroom]**

"Sans! And...Undyne." _Parvos glared at the teen fish in irritation, his right paw clenched like a fist._

"Sans. I take it you have found a cure for the poison that rendered Shamir...like this?" _Asgore gestured with one of his large paws towards the still unconscious Captain._

"yup. you might want to stand back." _Sans said as he opened the jaguar's snout with his blue magic, while pouring the green filled vial in his system and waited._

"You're going to be the first monster he's going to crush under his paws." _Rasha said bitterly, her paws folded, while Ribras gently placed a paw over her right shoulder._

"Don't worry, darlin'. Our Captain is a really strong monster, he won't be giving up without a fight first." _Ribras said as he left out a small chuckle._

 _The jaguar captain was lifted from the bed, the same green, soft aura enveloping him as the cure was working out its mending purpose, and then he was laid back on the king-sized bed. Everyone looked in expectation as Shamir was still not making a move, until one of his paws moved in a soft grab, like a kitten's first touches. And then his azure eyes flew open, as if brought back to life._

"thank heavens above you're alive, buddy." _Sans said as he grinned at Shamir's still exhausted face._

"S-Sans?" _the jaguar managed to form a soft smile on his snout, while his eyes shifted from him to Undyne._ "Oh? W-why...are you...here?" _Shamir struggled to find his words, as his azure eyes stood affixed on the fish monster, whose head hung low, in shame._

"I- I wanted to say sorry. I-" _Undyne mumbled as she couldn't look at the jaguar before her._

"I heard that, Undyne." _Shamir smiled softly, while he softly grabbed her hand/fin._ "You promise so much-" _he said, his voice sounding tired._

"I'm sorry I disappointed you, Shamir. You're literally the reason I wanted so badly to join the Guard. You take shape of the one hope we all have...and I want to protect that hope too!" _Undyne said as she beamed towards the jaguar, returning his touch._

"I want to-" _Shamir began to say, trying to find his words,_ "-train you more. If King Asgore here approves it too."

"I hope Tori will approve too. I know she's pretty hot-headed herself...but she knows that your choices are always justified, Shamir."

"speakin' of toriel. she's been poisoned too, but alphys is with her as we speak. she'll be fine." _Sans said, as he shoved his bony hands in the blue lab coat's pockets._

 _Asgore would've outright burned Undyne to a crisp, if it wasn't for the jaguar's lifted paw. But what made everyone's eyes widen in shock was the sole word Shamir uttered. "Father..."_

 _A single thought run through their head,_ **'SHAMIR IS ASGORE'S SON?!'** _and they all sweatdropped at the breathtaking news presented to them._

"I know what you're thinking," _Shamir said as he steeled himself, and took a better look on every monster's shocked faces._ "The Royal Dreemurrs have adopted me since I was a little cub. Yet...I can't look at them as my family sometimes. It is very difficult."

"It was about time everyone found this thing out, didn't they?" _Asgore said sheepishly._

"Perhaps the news is too soon for them to process," _Shamir exhaled as sweat bedded on his forehead._ "But it's better said earlier than never, right?"

"If you're Asgore's son, and I'm your student...does that make me even remotely your...adoptive daughter?" _Undyne couldn't help musing the thought aloud, while the jaguar captain left out a hearty laughter._

"Don't forget Alphys too-"

 _WHOOSH!_

 _A flick of light blinded everyone in the room, and, a few moments later, the shining light left place for a wobbly Toriel and a concerned Alphys - the former was caught in Asgore's protective arms, who kissed his wife softly on the lips, while everyone looked at the two Nose-Nuzzling Champions in awe._

"Tori...are you okay?" _Asgore asked, concern written on his face._

"Don't worry, Gorey, I'll be fine," _Toriel replied as she looked at him with tiny sparkles in her eyes._

"Sansy!" _Alphys said as she hugged the skeleton in full force, making the latter blush furiously._ "You are a true genius-"

"nah, we both are geniuses, darlin'." _Sans replied with a casual grin on his face, and then turned his gaze towards Toriel,_ "hey tori. why didn'cha tell us my buddy is your kid?"

 _Toriel's eyes widened in shock as she looked towards the jaguar who smiled a bit sheepishly, as if trying to excuse himself for leaving the proverbial cat out of the bag, yet Toriel did nothing else but pat him softly on the head:_

"You really are a big dummy cat, you know that? This was supposed to be a secret...but since you couldn't help yourself...I guess it's out now, eh?~"

"Yes, Mother." _Shamir sweatdropped._ "It's still strange for me, you know. I found out accidentally, when I looked in your diary."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" _Toriel's left paw manifested a fireball, but behind her, Asgore laughed heartily._

"He asked me if there were any books to read around one day, and I accidentally must've passed down your diary." _the kingly monster said as he scratched the back of his head._

"And here I thought we'd be telling him on his birthday." _Toriel said, her arms now folded._ "What is done is done. And I assume you still want to train Undyne-"

"Yes, Your Highness," _Shamir said, as courteous as ever._ "I wish to take Undyne as my personal student, train her until she's apt enough to enter the Royal Guard."

 _Undyne's face beamed as she heard the news, and couldn't help hugging her smaller sister who sat in a corner, chatting with Sans._ "Hear that?! Shamir is going to train me," _the fish monster said, but then she added,_ "even after what I've done to him."

"i knew my buddy always makes the right choice." _Sans chuckled, while he held Alphys protectively._

"When will we start?" _Undyne asked Shamir, excitedly._

"As soon as I recover, Undyne. Remember what I said...vigilance and patience make good home inside a Guard's spirit." _Shamir said, with a serious gaze fixed on the fish monster._

"This is going to be so cool..."

* * *

 **I honestly apologize for the shortness of this particular chapter...  
**

 **Consider it a small interlude for some - I think it's obvious - Shamir / Undyne time (first as Master, second as Student.)**

 **Shamir: Only now I found out I was their adopted son?...Shock, you're really unpredictable.**

 **Me: The humans that will come down are pretty much like that.**

 **Shamir: Has anyone seen young Papyrus? I kinda miss his shows...**

 **Me: ...We'll find out his fate, I promise.**

 **See ya until the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter Seven: Warriors and Adventurers

**CHAPTER SEVEN: WARRIORS AND ADVENTURERS  
**

 **This chapter is going to have mixed feelings in here. Angst and fluff mostly.  
**

 **Shamir: That poison was strong, looks like I won't be able to fight - yet.**

 **Me: You'll be watching over someone until you'll be back in full fighting force.**

 **Shamir: That I will do, it is one of the things I'm good at.  
**

 **Me: ...You're good with a lot of things, pal.  
**

 **Shamir: *sweatdrops* ...If you think so.  
**

 **Let's get this thing...rolling?  
**

* * *

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _Two days passed since Shamir voiced his intention of training Undyne, and the former was getting better with each day, enough to fight a good while before panting with complete exhaustion. He wasn't, however, in full fighting force - much to his dismay - while his colleagues noticed the rather scornful look on the jaguar's face as if he was forced to retreat from a training battle fifteen minutes after. He didn't want to be so weak, so vulnerable, not when he had to raise someone to his own level of efficiency to work alongside him._

 _Even Toriel thought he was overdemanding of himself. He just aimed to be better, to be faster, to be stronger, to train each day just so he's never caught off-guard - but as his mother, she was concerned of the son she's been raising since Asriel and Chara's deaths. She remembered the day when she found the small jaguar cub at the castle's doors, enveloped in a faded yellow blanket, and a small note on said blanket that said, ["Please, take good care of me."]_

 _[Music - Heartache (Music Box Version)]_

 **'He was so small...** **'** _Toriel was musing as she stood in her reading chair, her gaze transfixed towards the small fireplace._ **'After my children's deaths, his apparel was a small blessing to us. Who wanted to abandon such a sweet cub?'**

["Look at him, Gorey. His small, button nose is so adorable!" _Toriel said as she gently booped the jaguar cub's nose, while he left out a somewhat loud mewing sound._

"Yes, and his voice is strong from now," _Asgore laughed,_ "he will be a great commander one day."

"How should we name him? The note had no name for this little one." _Toriel said, motherly concern in her eyes._

"I'm pretty bad at names, you know that, Tori." _Asgore excused himself sheepishly._

"I remember I have read a curious book of fables, one of them was very captivating, dare I say. That tale gave one of the characters an interesting name in there...what was it?" _Toriel mused as she tried to remember the name, a thoughtful look on her face._

"I hope he will share your interest in books, Tori." _Asgore said as he was playing with the small jaguar, whose azure eyes were fixed on one of the king's large paws._

"Yes, I remember the name! It was **Shamir** , and ...I think the author left a note in that book where he said it means "guardian" in Hebrew."

"The name is really interesting, Tori. And I think it fits the little one just right!" _Asgore said as he pat the now-yawning cub's head._ ]

 **'And look at him now, doing his best to protect the Underground. The name I gave him was really fitting...'** _Toriel's gaze lifted away from the fireplace, and then she gently rose from the chair, heading for the kitchen._ **'I'll prepare him some butterscotch-cinnamon pie...'** _she thought as a smile graced her snout, while Asgore was watching her in the distance, his mind on the same memory as her. He too, was concerned about Shamir's well-being, even though the two Boss Monsters struggled with trying to make the jaguar captain feel less awkward when they sat together for a meal._ **  
**

 _What they didn't know was that Shamir was enjoying the time he spent with them, despite the moments of embarassment between himself and his adoptive parents. They were there, guiding his first steps, guiding his life towards a better path for himself and for the others. It wasn't really a surprise when Shamir himself decided to be the leading force of the Royal Guard when he reached the age of maturity - while Asgore wasn't completely sure if he would really form the Guard, the jaguar monster was up and about being the leader and making sure only the ones proving their worth will join.  
_

 _[Music Stop]_

* * *

 ** _[Royal Guards' Training Grounds]_**

 _Shamir looked from the sidelines, his arms folded as he was getting ready to start Parvos' spar with Undyne. While Parvos' power wasn't neglijable, he was but a beginner in sparring - and more than a perfect enemy to begin Undyne's training with. Undyne wasn't really pleased with having to learn the basics of sparring, but she knew Shamir wanted only to raise her at his own level, he was looking at her like his own daughter - as the fish monster so coyly suggested.  
_

 _Parvos was still mad at the teen monster before him, and his eyes were slitted with rage. He wasn't going to let the brat just go away unscathed from this fight - it was almost as if Parvos erased from his mind the idea it was just a practice spar. And Shamir didn't notice anything, because Parvos was good enough at masking his rage, when he wanted to do so. He got out his dual daggers, made out of silver, with brown leather handles and stood in a ready-to-fight position, while Undyne summoned a spear and slitted her eyes at her opponent, waiting for Shamir's signal.  
_

 _Just then, Sans and Alphys went down to watch Undyne's training from a tribune Shamir himself arranged for any monster interested in seeing the Guards in action. Alphys' glasses were shining white, while underneath, her eyes were betraying excitement in seeing her sister training, and Sans knew there won't be any Shamir vs Undyne fight, because his pal was still recovering from that sound poisoning - the cure may have worked, but after-effects would be gone in six days at least._

"I place my bet on Undyne. She's going to kick Parvos' tail easily." _Alphys said as she sat down, eating some instant noodles._

"i bet something else will happen." _Sans said as he sat next to his girlfriend, eating a bit of her noodles as well._

"Let's just wait and see what will go down." _Alphys said, looking at the two monsters that were still in position._

"too bad shamir's still recovering. that would've been badass to see." _Sans chuckled._

 _On the field, Shamir raised one of his paws, and looked briefly at the two monsters, saying_ "Before we start, you have to remember this is just for practice. The only thing you have to do to win, is to knock down your opponent." _and then let down his paw, signaling the start of the fight and then folded back his arms, watching in anticipation.  
Undyne began charging at the leopard before her, spear pointed forward in fury, while Parvos quickly jumped away from the fish monster's charge. _

**'You'll die for what you did to Captain Shamir!'** _Parvos was thinking as his eyes slitted and coated his blades in a dark flame, while jumping towards Undyne, the latter parrying the blow with her spear above her head, twirling it as fast as she could._ **'What's got into that crazy cat? Assaulting me like that?'** _Undyne was thinking as she summoned a wave of spears towards the white leopard that stood in front of her, Parvos managing to dodge the attack right in time, except for one spear that made a hole in his robes._ _The white leopard looked at Undyne in full-fledged rage, and began summoning dark daggers that tried to pin the teen monster somewhere in place, while Undyne tried to evade the coming blows that were hurled at her almost incessantly._

 _Shamir noticed that Parvos was fighting far with too much fury in his eyes - but he decided that he will intervene only if Parvos will act on a fatal blow towards Undyne - and let the fight go along for the moment. Undyne then summoned a bigger spear and bit one of her fingers to coat it with blood, her teeth gritted as she wanted to give her best in this fight and yelled like an anime warrior as she charged mid-jump towards Parvos, who cast a dark flamed shield that knocked Undyne a few paces back. She then twirled the spear, forming out a rather large pale of wind while advancing towards Parvos, whose shield was down due to the strength of the wind. He grinded the two daggers against one another, forming small dark lightning bolts coating the blades and waited for Undyne's next move._

 _The fish monster jumped in anger, as she swiped with her spear, aiming for the leopard's face, while the latter parried with his dark-electric daggers as he sent shocks through Undyne's body, weakening her with each attack. She kept swiping the spear, with no actual hit on the leopard, and then, Parvos saw his opening - Undyne's torso was unprotected - but just as he was about to impale the fish monster with his daggers, a powerful blast was heard from the sidelines, forcing him to be knocked away from Undyne almost a yard back._

 _It was Shamir's Circle of Wind that cast away the leopard from hitting Undyne fatally, and the jaguar monster's eyes were still widened in shock as how could Parvos just **muster** the intent of killing his student. He then ran towards the weakened fish monster and gently lifted her in his paws, while he was still wincing from the after-effects. _

"holy dreemurrs." _Sans could only say as his pinpricks were gone._

"WHAT THE HELL?!" _Alphys said as she was surrounded by a yellow aura of rage._

 _Shamir took the weakened Undyne towards his training tent, with some difficulty and laid her on his campaign bed, while gently carressing her hand/fin and whispering some apologies towards her. She could only beam weakly towards the one that she looked at like a father. Sans and Alphys came along, surrounding her in worry, while Shamir's eyes were burning red with rage._ "I still don't understand how he had the **gall** to lay a paw on Undyne like that. But, right now, I don't care how weakened I am, at this point. **He's not leaving the grounds unpunished.** " _the Captain said as he gently squeezed Undyne and Alphys's hand/fin and claw._

"Sans, look over them while I'm out." _Shamir ordered through his gritted teeth, as he shook his head in disapproval._

"Wh-where is...Shamir going?" _Undyne asked as she noticed the jaguar leaving the tent._

"he's gone full-blown papa jaguar over you, undyne. you might wanna stay here until he deals with parvos."

 _Shamir's eyes were slitted and a glowing red as he headed towards the leopard that was rising from the sudden gust of wind which knocked him away from Undyne. He didn't fully process what was about to come crashing down for him, and Shamir was not going to restrain himself from delivering a just punishment - the jaguar was looking forward to a nice training day that Parvos just had to ruin - and it wasn't surprising when Parvos looked at the jaguar's yellow-dotted hind paws._

 **"GET UP."** _Shamir said to the face-down leopard that struggled to rise from the spot he was in._ **"I SAID GET UP."**

"Captain?..." _Parvos asked, trying to feign ignorance, but it was obvious by the look on Shamir's face that it wasn't going to end well for him._

 _He was in a deep pile of trash right now, and there was no saving him from Shamir's wrath. He looked at the furious jaguar, while gulping nervously and sweat was bedding on his forehead.  
_

 **"Spare me the humble speech."** _Shamir said as he grabbed the leopard by his robes, holding him a bit upward._ "Care to explain what was all **that** about? And tell the **truth** , or I will kill you with **no hesitation.** " _the jaguar said as he tightened his grasp._

"I- I was just mad over what she did to you. And yet, you allow **her** to be a part of our team?!" _Parvos said as he was gulping from Shamir's tight grasp._

" **She** is not to be harmed, **under no conditions**. I don't care about what she did before, I care about what she'll be doing **from now on.** " _Shamir said as he charged one of his paws with lightning._ **"And if you ever dare to lay _again_ a paw on her, I will make sure you will be dead." **_the jaguar said in a scary voice as he punched Parvos in his left cheek, zapping the leopard in the process, and then released his grasp._

 _The white leopard looked with shock, somewhat relieved he wasn't outright killed - but he decided not to test his captain's patience anymore. If Undyne was going to be a Royal Guard member, then he will have to concur to his leader's wishes. Ribras and Rasha were walking out of the Royal Guards' HQ, when they saw Parvos looking rather shabbily and trying to steady himself in his walk._

"What happened to _you_?" _Ribras said as he laughed at Parvos._ "You look like you were tossed around. Did Undyne beat you?"

"No." _Parvos said as he wanted to walk away from the two felines, but Rasha stopped him._

"Then who did this to you?" _she asked, in a calm voice._

"Figure it out for yourselves." _Parvos scoffed, leaving towards his chambers in the headquarters._

 _The two lions were looking at one another in curiosity, until they heard some chatter going on in Shamir's training tent and decided to check things up._

"...He's not going to hurt you anymore." _they heard Shamir's voice talking to someone._

"pft, you look like you are a little softer than usual, buddy." _they heard Sans' voice as well._

"Until we'll be able to spar together, I will make sure everyone will let her stay with us. And no, I'm no softy cat." _the jaguar replied._

"i think you are, mr i'm-no-softy-cat." _Sans laughed._

"Fine, fine, Sans. Stop teasing me, alright?"

 _Ribras and Rasha walked in on the four monsters that were having a break time from all the bad moment that just passed them, and greeted each of them with a curt and polite nod. Undyne smiled weakly in reconaissance, while she still held Shamir's large paw in her grasp, and to her, it felt good to have such a cool father like him, that was sure. Alphys was standing there, watching over her sister, while Sans was casually grinning, with his hands in the pockets of the blue lab coa_ t.

"Captain, do you intend to make Undyne a part of our team?" _Ribras asked, a small look of concern in his eyes._

"Yes. Please, try to welcome her well, I just want to make sure she will be top-down ready to join us." _Shamir said,_ "And I'm warning you, **if you dare to lay a paw on her...** " _he added in a gruffer voice, his eyes slitted._

"We will not, Captain Shamir. Your decision belongs to you only, and we will do our best to make sure she's feeling welcomed." _Ribras added, while Rasha nodded in approval._

"Thank you. Good to know I have support from you." _the jaguar captain said as he exhaled in relief._

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _Asgore was tending to the golden flowers in the inner courtyard, while gently humming a tune he liked so much. The birds were chirping lively, as if nature was blessed to see such a kind monster in its' midst. Days like these were something Asgore enjoyed so much, and gardening was by far the best past-time, but he missed playing a game of catch with his son. They were having so much fun back in those days, and he often wondered if Shamir missed those days as well._

 _Inside, Toriel's butterscotch-cinnamon pie was ready to be served, but given the fact Shamir's been late by almost an hour in his usual schedule, something must've happened for him to not arrive home earlier. She decided to put the pie back in the oven and re-heat it, just to be sure it will be warm by the time he will arrive, and went back to reading a dusty book she picked from the shelf. It was called "Rememberance", and it looked, by its' title, like a cheesy romance novel - but since she was with Asgore, cheesy romance was good enough for her._

"I'm home!" _Shamir's voice was heard as he entered the castle's doors, while Asgore greeted his son with the usual "Howdy!" and Shamir did nothing else but flash one of those funny smiles of his when he was content with something. He then walked inside, to the scent of Toriel's absolutely delicious butterscotch-cinnamon pie - his mouth was awash with drool as he let himself guided by the scent. Toriel laughed as Shamir did not change with this particular thing - no matter how old he would be, he would always dash through the scent to reach out the pie, drooling._

"Nu-uh, not yet, my child. Please, wash your paws first." _Toriel teased as she laid her fluffy paw against his snout._

"You know I - still - don't tolerate water." _he tried to glare at the goat monster, but ended up pouting instead._

"I remember when I gave you your first bath, Shamir~" _Toriel began, with a giggle._ "You were absolutely _adorable_ in there."

"Please- I am _not adorable!_ " _the jaguar said as he covered his snout with his large paws._

"Oh, but yes! I remember the nights you slept in my lap. You'd be laying against my bosom as if it was a very soft pillow." _the goat monster teased as she couldn't help a faint blush over her cheeks._

"I-did that?" _Shamir's fur went floof at the very mention of that, sweatdropping as he couldn't help avert his gaze from Toriel's bosom._

 _Asgore finished watering the flowers and walked in the kitchen, catching on the curious scene that was going on before him. The kingly monster could figure Toriel must've been teasing the poor jaguar, and then the two goat monsters started whispering to one another, leaving Shamir in that state._

"Bahahahaha! Out of every _adorable moment_ you could choose, you chose **that one**?" _Asgore laughed heartily, and then added more to Shamir's embarassment._ "Yes, you did that, young one. You looked _so content_ on staying there, it was very difficult for me to carry you back to bed. Tori's scent knocked you off to sleep in mere seconds."

 _Shamir couldn't help letting his ears down, blushing furiously as these memories were coming back to him._

"Tch. Sans was right. I'm getting _softy._ "

 _ **[Ebotton, Kansas]**_

 _The road before them was half-empty, as scores of cars were going, while twilight was basking the landscape before them. The misadventures, until now, proved to be a lot - but somehow, Roger's gut was telling that their troubles were far from being over. After all, Sam's murderer was still at large, and whoever stole his Caddilac wasn't yet caught, on top of that he was hunting a deserted town he had the honor of being in. His mind was now set on Toriel - wherever the kind monster was - and wanted to see her again. Maybe Frisk would warm up to her, feel safer. He knew that he did feel safe in her fluffy embrace, but then shook his head, to keep steady on the road.  
_

 _Frisk, on the other hand, was still plagued by lt. Richards' words about Roger - even if the latter said they weren't true, and were proven false - he thought Roger could have been bad, somewhere deep down. But the young man assured them, time and time again, that nothing would come to harm them under his guard - yet the words weren't enough to convince the child._

 _Roger looked incredibly focused when he was chasing this goal of his - and at times, he stopped to look for any markings, signs, **anything** that would lead him back in the abandoned town of Ebotton. He sighed in vexation, as he didn't know what was the answer for finding this town - how could he find it the first time and not now? He then reached the torpedo for a US Road Map and looked at it with puzzled, yet focused eyes. Frisk noticed the amount of determination stemming from Roger's resolute thinking, and was a bit impressed by the man's logical skills._

"Still going into the unknown?" _Frisk asked, a curious look on their face as the man searched for their next road to take._

"Yes. I fail to understand something." _Roger said, as he exhaled heavily._ "I could _see_ the town the first time. Why can't I do so now?"

"You mean, the town that's right across the road?" Frisk said as they pointed towards an abandoned town and a large mountain looming across the road, but which Roger did not see at all. He saw only desert and nothing else.

"What, there's nothing-YOU CAN SEE IT?!" _Roger said, exasperation written all over his face._ "Wait. Maybe because I want so badly to find the town, I can't see it." _he then exhaled, clearing out his mind completely._

 _Indeed, after a few moments, Roger could see the town before him as well, and then silently thanked Frisk for being there with him. They took some of the rations from the Mustang's trunk and two sleeping bags, leaving the car abandoned, not caring anymore about anything else. The goal was reached, he was back in Ebotton - but the two of them were obviously very tired, and walked slowly into the town, talking about a lot of topics like maths, geography and so forth, until they reached the old library Roger walked in for the first time.  
_

 _He hoped to see Toriel back here, but everything looked like it was untouched since he came down here - with the exception of one thing. There were many books on the shelves right now, as opposed to the few with unintelligible titles, and Frisk looked around with a small degree of fear, as they held onto Roger. The researcher assured Frisk they had nothing to fear in a library, while he looked for a good place for the two to spend the night in, as he left out a long yawn._

"Look, this is a good place to sleep for the night." _Roger said as he laid his sleeping bag next to a fireplace in the far end of the library._ "I'll light the fire with care, don't worry."

"Okay." _Frisk nodded, while they laid their sleeping bag and slowly covered themselves in its' warmth, while Roger was slaving out lighting the fire._

 _After a few notches, the fire was gently crinkling, lighting their faces and warming up the atmosphere, and then Roger wished Frisk a good night, plopping out to sleep.  
But even if the gentle light of the crinkling fire was there, Frisk was going to be plagued by yet another nightmare..._

 ** _[?]_**

 _Frisk saw a small flower cowering in fear before them - but they chose to not hurt that flower - instead it attached itself on Frisk's shoulder. Behind themselves, they heard two voices, one male and one female talking about someone they were familiar, yet unfamiliar with.  
_

"Is he...is he talking about the same Toriel that we know?"

"No...that doesn't sound like it's her."

 _They then felt grabbed by something soft and fuzzy, and saw before them a goat that wanted them to come with him._

 _Then he stopped, pointing at Frisk...and everything went dark._

 ** _[Old Library, Ebotton]_**

 _Frisk awoke, their heart beating rapidly, unable to understand what was all that about. Across them, Roger slept soundly as his breathing was rhythmic, and decided not to wake up their guardian. Instead, they crept out the library's door, and into the fading light of the morning that gently kissed these abandoned lands, still a bit chilly because they were in their pyjamas. For some odd reason, they were hearing whispers in the dark corners of the town that urged them to climb up the mountain looming in the distance, and they began walking faster, until the walking turned into a small run for the mountain ahead.  
_

 _"Libera nos, libera nos..."_

 _The dense forest that laid in front of Frisk was not going to scare the small child, as they went down on a seemingly visible path, their eyes focused on the mountain. They didn't stop in their tracks when they heard a bear from some bushes, nor when they heard birds chirping away in the depths of the forest. Frisk stopped only at the base of the mountain, the same whispers going on as ever in their ears, and decided to climb the mountain with steeling determination._

 _In the meantime, Roger was slowly awakening to the rising sun's soft rays that caressed the windows of the old library, and blinked for a few moments to adjust to the light. The warmth of his sleeping bag was so good he didn't really want to wake up, but he had to find out the truth about Ebotton. He then sat himself up, looked around the library, and noticed Frisk was gone. At first, Roger thought the child was merely exploring the library - but just how big could this library be?  
_

"Frisk? Frisk, where are you? _he called out, but when no answer came back, Roger could only utter,_ "Where did the kid go..."

 _Frisk was still climbing the mountain, cutting themselves in a few sharp rocks at times, but their determination to stop the voices that were calling out to them was enough to push them further. The pain didn't matter..._

"FRISK!" _Roger called out as he was outside the library, the chilly air greeting him while the sun was not yet in the afternoon position. **'**_ **I hope they did not venture somewhere dangerous,'** _Roger bemused as he looked at the abandoned houses before him, **'**_ **but I gotta check those houses and see if they're here.'** _He started with the leftmost house, with barren windows and a large rusty door, while the walls looked like they were about to collapse._

"Come out, this isn't fun! Where are you?" _he called out when he approached the house and figured he must go in, no matter what._

 _The sun was slowly setting in its' afternoon position, and while Roger was desperately searching out for Frisk, the latter was already approaching the top of the mountain. The voices in Frisk's head were still there, and they looked down below, to see an endless abyss opening out for them. A part of them wanted to go back to Roger, but their other part was determined to see if the voices can stop. As they sat down on the cold snow atop of the mountain, dangling their legs, they looked once more at the scenery before them - the azure sky, the gentle sun, the forest that seemed to go on forever, and behind them the abandoned town. Then, closing their eyes, pushed themselves down the abyss below.  
_

 _They fell down._

 _Roger's search continued until dawn, who groaned in frustration._ "They are not here. Just...I can't lose the kid right now! They have to be-" _he stopped in mid-sentence as he saw the large mountain looming in the distance._

 _Oh no._


	9. Chapter Eight: Fears and Fights

**Me: Welp. I dunno how well this chapter has worked itself out.  
**

 **Shamir: Looks good enough for me.**

 **Me: Thanks for the vote of confidence. I hope the readers will like it...And a small edit, I have refurbished some wording in here!  
**

 **Journey...Start!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER EIGHT: FEARS AND FIGHTS  
**

 _Roger looked in desperation at the huge mountain before him - he ran with all his force towards the base of the mountain - and one thought was running through his head,_ **'Frisk...why did you run away?'** _while his face betrayed deep sadness. He left out a heavy breath he wasn't aware he withheld, and resumed his climb up the mountain, trying his best to reach the top as fast as he could. In the meantime, Frisk was still unconscious as they laid on the bed of golden flowers, and the faint light that came from above was gently touching the petals of said flowers. And there was nobody to help them, right now._ _  
_

 _Meanwhile, Roger looked at the sun that began to slowly set, and knew it was dangerous to climb a mountain during the night - besides, he couldn't light his way with the silver lighter he carried in one of his pants' pocket._ **'I have to hurry up. I hope Frisk isn't hurt...or dead.'** _he mentally deadpanned, as his brows furrowed in anger and went much more careful about his climb, given the fact moonlight wasn't yet enough to shine on the path ahead. There was no way he would give up on the kid that they promised to protect.  
_

 _Frisk awoke slowly, their head hurting and their hands full of small wounds. Groggily, they lifted themselves up, dusted their clothes, and looked around in a vague attempt to catch on their bearings._ **'Where am I?'** _Frisk was thinking as they went in circles, trying to figure out a way, while outside,_ _Roger was still climbing the mountain. It took one more hour for the young man to finish the climb - by that time, moonlight was shining brilliantly, and Roger felt relieved he was on the mountain's peak, while still huffing in exhaustion from the rather hasty and hurting climb._

 _Frisk was finally finding their way out of this darkened room, and then ended up in front of a heavy stone door they pushed with some effort, reaching in another darkened room like the first. Outside, Roger was admiring the view, and wondered why would Frisk just decide - he stopped when he saw the child's footprints - and hoped to God above they weren't dead. Then, steeling his nerves, decided to jump down.  
_

 _Roger fell down, and while the fall was enough to render Frisk unconscious for a while, the young man was strong enough to recover from the fall much faster._ **'Ngh...Frisk! I must find Frisk...'** _But just as he was thinking like that, sounds of battle could be heard somewhere deep down the corridor._ **'What the hell? What is going on out there?'** **  
**

"WE NEED THIS LITTLE FELLA DOWN HERE. HE WILL RUIN EVERYTHING IF WE DON'T STOP HIM." _Flowey said, his glitched voice a bit sarcastic._

 ** _"look at how defiant...they seem to be..."_** _the ghost like figure floated next to the glitched flower. **"let's see how can they...fare against papyrus..."** and, in a few seconds, the ghostly figure entered Papyrus's SOUL, making the skeleton's eyes hollow, and demeanour completely changed.  
_

"HUMAN...I WILL RESET OVER YOUR OWN DEATH." _the possessed Papyrus said as he began enveloping the child's SOUL in his signature blue magic, tossing the child around._

 _Screams of pain were heard, and Roger hurried down the darkened corridor, his trusty lighter guiding the way, while the sounds were getting louder._ **'If anyone dares to hurt Frisk...'** _the young man said as he pushed the large stone door, noticing a tossed around and injured Frisk, who was bleeding a lot - and, looking around for the child's attacker, the possessed skeleton was trying to impale them with an array of bones. He picked up Frisk and dodged the attack as fast as he could, and was surprised to notice the one aiming to kill them was a large...dressed skeleton?_

 **"Hey prick! Take on someone of your size!"** _Roger bellowed as he squinted his eyes towards the skeleton._

"ANOTHER HUMAN? THIS CERTAINLY LOOKS VERY INTERESTING." _the glitched flower said._ **"TOO BAD YOU CAN'T DEFEND YOURSELF AT ALL."** _he added as a maniacal laughter echoed through the darkness and aimed for Roger with his spiky, monstrous vines, as if thinking he could grasp the man. For some reason, he felt a bit more powerful in this room, there was something pulsing within him.  
_

 _A faint purple aura began surrounding Roger as his eyes were squinted, and brought up his lighter._

 _Flick. Flick. Flick!_

 **"Weeds get burned down!"** _he roared as the gentle flame of the lighter became a violent one, and threw it towards the vines that were threatening to take him away._ **  
**

 _The possessed Papyrus didn't waste a chance to surround the two humans with his array of sharp, blue-coated magic bones, and Roger sweatdropped. He didn't have any defense right now, but at least, he found Frisk. He stood protectively in front of the child, gritting his teeth - and thought just how stupid this might've looked, given the fact he was out of any way to protect himself and Frisk. No gun, no baton, the lighter was gone...He gulped.  
_

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT. HE HAS NOTHING TO PROTECT HIMSELF AGAINST PAPYRUS'S ATTACK, BUT WILL PROTECT THE CHILD. CURIOUS. **HE WILL END UP DEAD ANYWAY!** "

 _Outside, Shamir was patrolling the Ruins area, when he felt something curious in the air, as the wind just shifted its' course._ **'Hmph. I wonder...the wind is usually calmer in these parts. I should explore the Ruins, just to be sure.'** _he thought as he pushed the large door and walked down the basement, the Old Home - as he dubbed it, even if his father was bad at names - and saw a scared Froggit running until the latter bumped into the large feline.  
_

"What is wrong? Why are you running like that?" _Shamir asked, curiosity written all over his face._

"Rib-ribbit, rib-rib ribbit!" _the Froggit uttered as their eyes were widened in panic._

"What? Two humans fell down and Papyrus is attacking them?!" _Shamir's eyes glazed red at the thought._

"Ribbit." _the Froggit said, sweatdropping._

 **'Damn. Either the humans provoked Papyrus...or something else is going on.'** _the Royal Guard Captain thought as he began dashing through the Ruins to reach the beginning of the Underground. While he was on the run, in that very cave, Roger tried to stall for time as much as he could, hoping someone would save them._ **  
**

"Before you kill me..." _Roger said,_ "I want to know who I'm dealing with. Just so I know in the afterlife."

"ARE YOU JOKING, HUMAN? I AM FLOWEY. FLOWEY THE FABULOUS FLOWER. AND THIS IS MY GOOD BROTHER, NAPSTABLOOK. WHO CURRENTLY HAS AHOLD OF PAPYRUS, THE SKELETON STAR OF THE UNDERGROUND. _Flowey's glitchy voice said, as he manifested a somewhat robotic face on himself.  
_

"What's the Underground?" _the researcher said, trying to get more information, while he was on the brink of death **.** He couldn't help musing that he must've looked like the Batman while tied up and still asking questions._

"PFT. YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THE UNDERGROUND?" _the possessed Papyrus said._ "YOU MUST BE FAKING STUPIDITY, SINCE IT'S YOUR KIND THAT GOT US TRAPPED IN HERE!" _he added as the bones were nearing the two humans. Frisk was still unconscious for most of the time._

"ARE YOU DUMB, NAPSTABLOOK? HE'S STALLING FOR TIME. LOOK AT HIS PATHETIC FACE." _Flowey said as he summoned another set of vines._ "NOBODY WILL SAVE YOU FROM BEING MURDERED BY OUR DUAL ATTACK!" _he added as his vines were fastly approaching Roger, while the bones of Papyrus threatened Frisk._

 **'We're dead. We're dead. We're de-'** _Roger could only think, when he heard a loud, menacing growl and faint whirrs of electricity around him._ **  
**

 _ **"**_ **CHARGER SHOCK!** _ **"** a male voice bellowed in the darkness, and sets of blue lightning strikes zapped Flowey's vines, the latter yelling in pain. The approaching sillhouette then threw two lightning-coated sabres that broke the bones surrounding the two humans, forcing Napstablook's control over Papyrus away. **  
**_

 ** _"let's run...brother...they are saved...for now."_** _Napstablook faded away, while Flowey dug himself out from the room.  
_

 _Roger, exhaling in full relief that someone actually saved them, ran towards the unconscious Frisk and held them in his arms, while examining the wounds._ **'Don't worry, buddy. I have some bandage to cover those bad wounds...now...come on, wake up..'** _he thought with worry as the child wasn't opening their eyes. Looking around, the sillhouette that saved them earlier seemed to retreat in the darkness, almost as if watching them from afar. Roger still didn't understand why whoever that was saved them, but he was grateful that they did.  
_

 _Shamir knew first hand that not all humans are to be trusted, yet for the moment, he postponed on killing them. They seemed to be in danger, by the looks of it - but for what it was worth, they could've also brought this upon themselves. He noticed that, out of the two humans, one was a child. There was something nagging at him when he saw the child, but couldn't place his paw on it - he then decided not to dawdle around - humans have fallen down in the Underground, and the course of action was set. If they acted with extreme hostility towards the monsters, or outright attempted to kill them, there will be no hesitation on his side to go for a kill. He looked a bit relieved that Papyrus was safe, too - whatever may have gotten into him.  
_

 _Papyrus was now laying on the cold ground, a bit confused at what he saw before him._ "H-HUMANS?! WHAT ARE YOU-"

"You look confused. Don't you remember you were attacking us just now?" _Roger shot him an annoyed glare._

"I WAS ATTACKING YOU? THAT IS VERY, VERY UNLIKE ME. FOR YOU SEE-" _Papyrus began to lift himself up and dust his tuxedo._

"You are the star of the Underground, whatever the Underground means." _Roger huffed as he looked back to Frisk._ "You did a number on them, and if they're dead..."

"I AM TRULY SORRY." _Papyrus said as he approached the two._ "I AM A STAR, NOT A WARRIOR. I DO NOT WISH TO KILL POTENTIAL FANS."

 _Frisk finally awoke, their whole body hurt and wincing as they wanted to speak. They looked with scared eyes at the hovering skeleton above them and put their hands in defense, shivering, as if they didn't want to be a victim of the skeleton's might. Roger gently let the kid's hands down and smiled at them weakly, while reassuring the skeleton won't hurt them, but the man wasn't going to let his guard down - after what he saw, there wasn't one-hundred-percent trust between him and Papyrus._

"I'm going to be straight with you, Papyrus. I still do not trust you, but I don't want to start on a bad foot with anyone I meet. I'm Roger, and the kid you pulled a stunt on just a few moments ago is Frisk." _he said as he extended his right hand, expecting Papyrus to shake back, which the skeleton did.  
_

"I THINK I HAVE HEARD A FEW PUNS IN THAT SENTENCE," _Papyrus_ _huffed._ "I AM NOT A FAN OF PUNS."

"No, no. I assure you, no puns. They are merely expressions." _Roger assured the tall skeleton._ "Frisk, can you walk?" _he asked the small child, who shaked his head in strong denial._ "No worries, I'll carry you. And you, Papyrus? Are you okay?" _he turned towards the still-somewhat-confused skeleton._

"YES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN." _Papyrus replied._ "I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND - I'M NOT A FAN OF HISTORY, BUT SOMEONE ELSE DOES. AND HE'S SOMEWHAT OF A FANATIC WHEN IT COMES TO HUNTING HUMANS."

"That begins to reassure me a _lot._ " _Roger sweatdropped, while holding Frisk tighter._ "Still, you can tell me what _you_ know about the Underground. I like to hear stories even from those who have little knowledge about something."

 _They began walking through the Ruins, while Papyrus was telling Roger what he knew, and Frisk looked with curiosity at the exchanges between the two. Roger would often stop the skeleton and try making out his own conclusions about what he was saying - while Papyrus often corrected with what he knew from Sans. They must've been talking like that until they reached the first room full of conundrums, Frisk stating that they can walk now, while Papyrus took the liberty to see what colours the humans' SOULS were. Roger's was purple, and Frisk's was red - and he recalled something his brother would often mumble in his sleep.  
_

[Purple...Perseverent human...logical...they will solve everything...Red...Determined human...will not stop until the goal...is reached...]

 _Roger looked at the first conundrum before them - three levers in three different positions and at the end of the corridor, a large wall of spikes was barring the way. He looked at Frisk and Papyrus, then he gestured towards two of the levers._ "I will take the middle one. Frisk, you take the leftmost one, and Papyrus, the rightmost one. Be careful, their position is distinct. Either we need to pull them all down, or all them up. I am not sure if this needs to be done simultaneously-"

"What do you mean b-by that w-word?" _Frisk asked, a bit confused at the word._

"I mean- I'm not sure if we need to pull on the levers _at the same time_ , but I think it would be best if we try that first." _Roger explained._ "Okay, we pull them down on three."

 **One.**

 **Two.**

 **Three.**

 _Click!_

 _The spike wall was now gone, and the three looked with relief towards one another, thankful they didn't have to go through too much trial and error. Roger took Frisk's hand, while Papyrus tried to stay close to the two humans. He could've left them down here with no guidance, but he wasn't a bad monster at his core - and besides, he knew the place like it was the back of his bony hand. A nagging thought was, however, going in his skull as they went forward in the Ruins,_ **'WHAT HAPPENED TO ME SO BAD THAT THE HUMAN NAMED ROGER INSISTED I WAS JUST ATTACKING THEM?'** _, because he could only remember seeing Flowey and a strange ghost before him, the former screeching about dust..._ _The line of thoughts stopped the moment Frisk asked him something, something Papyrus didn't seem to hear, as his eyesockets were narrowed in concentration, while Roger looked ahead for any dangers or puzzles that might've shown up in any of the rooms they passed by._

"YES, FRISK?" _Papyrus finally answered, regaining some focus as he shook his head from the weird thoughts._

"I asked you where you live." _Frisk said, looking at the skeleton with curiosity._

"NOT FAR FROM HERE, LITTLE HUMAN," _Papyrus smiled towards Frisk,_ "I LIVE IN SNOWDIN."

 _In front of the three, stood a room with three columns, and a large sign written in something gibberish - Roger couldn't read a letter from that - and asked Papyrus to read for him, while the latter looked a bit confused, before figuring Monsters' language had to be foreign to them by now. He sighed and began reading the text on the wall, pausing each time so Roger could learn the alphabet, at least. The Monsters' language was easy to learn after one knew the alphabet, and Roger felt indebted to the tall_ skeleton.  
 **'So, if we find the blue switch, we can pass.'** _Roger mused as he asked his two friends - well one of them was really his friend - to look for a blue switch, until Frisk sat on something that looked like a blue chair._ "I'm just tired..." _they said while a faint click was heard in the distance, and then sounds of a moving wall._

"Looks like you are lucky today, Frisk." _Roger couldn't help chuckling, while also sweatdropping._

"Lucky Frisk, lucky _risk._ " _Frisk laughed back._

"NOW THAT...WAS A PUN." _Papyrus huffed in annoyance._

"You really dislike puns, it seems." _the young researcher looked in curiosity at the annoyed skeleton._ "They're just child's play, nothing harmful in them..."

"YOU SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT SUBJECTED TO PUNS EACH DAY." _the tall skeleton said, his bony arms folded._

["bro, my cell _bone_ has no signal here", _Sans grinned as he checked his phone._

"MY PHONE HAS-, _Papyrus stops mid-sentence, realizing the pun,_ SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!"

"bro, can you guess my favourite instrument?" _Sans asked his brother one day._

"...THE GUITAR?" _Papyrus answered, after some thinking._

"no, trom _bone!_ " _Sans said with his bony hands outward._

"...DAMNIT, SANS."

"bro, c'mon..."

"FINISH THAT PUN AND I WILL POUR THE HOT PASTA ON YOUR SKULL AND THEN...AND THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S NEXT."

"...smile and stop _skull_ king..." _Papyrus, in his anger, pours the hot pasta on Sans' skull._ ]

"I'm sorry, I found Frisk's pun really hilarious." _Roger sweatdropped._ "Please, don't kill Frisk or anything. Let's just...continue on."

 _The three carried on through the next two rooms, which they solved easily - puzzle was similar - and then reached a rather large room with a pathway drawn on the floor, a thing Frisk found curious, and on the rightmost wall of the room, laid a careful instruction that Roger wanted to read this time. He wanted to show Papyrus just how inquisitive humans can be._ "So...it says... T-H-E...W-E-S-T...W-E-S-T-E-R-N...R-O-O-M..." _Roger began reading, trying to carefully match the letters in the Monsters' alphabet,_..."I-S...T-H-E...E-A-S-T...E-A-S-T-E-R-N...R-O-O-M-S...B-L-U-E-P-R...BLUEPRINT!" _he finished reading the text, grinning happily as he did this feat._ "It seems only in writing, the Monsters' alphabet is different. In speech, you can understand us and we can understand you..."

"YES, IT IS TRUE." _Papyrus nodded._

 _Roger took Frisk and ventured in the next room, looking with horror as the ground before them was full of spikes._ **'Great. So, I must remember the pattern on the left, in order to progress in here? Shit.'** _He then returned to the left room, where Papyrus looked with curiosity as the older human was adamant on solving the puzzle by themselves._ **  
**

"HUMAN. I CAN ACTUALLY HELP-" _the dashing skeleton said, only to be silenced by Roger's lifted right hand._

"No, I can handle it. I'm no child, like Frisk here." _Roger said as he was tracing back and forth over the white pattern._

 **'Three steps forward, three left, hm...exactly ten steps right...three down, and three right.'** _Roger repeated this over and over in his head, aware that one mis-step could be really unpleasant for him._ "Frisk, I can see the spikes are not very big, and just for your safety - you should stay on my back. And hold tight." _he told the small child, who did exactly that, and then Roger waved for Papyrus to follow him. The skeleton looked with immense curiosity as the human's retaining of the pattern and how well they passed over the spiked puzzle,_ **'THE TALL HUMAN LOVES PUZZLES A LOT...'** _and then, our trio went deeper in the Ruins._ **  
**

 _It must've taken them some good ten-fifteen more minutes until they reached the old house. Papyrus's mind was trying to chase away old memories, while Roger and Frisk looked in awe of how well the house looked like, despite the fact that nobody seemed to live in here for a **very, very long** time. The three entered the house, and Papyrus showed them the way towards the basement._ "Why should we go down there?" _Frisk asked, a bit scared by the prospect, while Roger wanted to explore more of the house._ _  
_

"TH- THERE'S NOTHING FOR YOU TO SEE IN HERE." _Papyrus said, sweatdropping._

"More like, you **don't** want us to see what is in here." _Roger scoffed._

"PL-PLEASE. DO NOT INSIST." _Papyrus said, his bony hands shaking._

"If you want me to trust you more, I want to see you trusting me. Whatever is or isn't here, we won't be telling."

 _Papyrus stood on the large carpet in the main hall of the house, while softly...crying?_ **'Whatever the hell got into him?'** _Roger mused as he saw the skeleton shaking under his cries. Frisk went to hug the crying skeleton, while Roger was doubting whether or not to leave the kid alone with Papyrus - and Frisk broke the silence by saying,_ "I'll be ok. He needs help.", _leaving the young researcher some freedom to look around the house. In one of the rooms, the shelves were empty, as if someone took great care to take whatever books were in here. His gaze stopped on the table opposite of the shelves - a picture was standing there, a picture that didn't look extremely old - a picture of Papyrus and someone else that seemed to be...a human? A human girl..._ _  
_

 _He then returned to his two companions, and noticed Papyrus wasn't crying anymore - he wondered what could've Frisk told him so he would be fine. In truth, while Roger was looking around the house, Frisk listened to what Papyrus had to say, how they lost someone they cared about - and Frisk could only say what Roger told them the day Sam died on the Surface. That whoever Frisk lost was probably hiding right now, but Papyrus didn't buy that. He appreciated though that the kid took their time to listen._

"Frisk, I'm really impressed." _Roger could say, smiling._ "Let's just go, Papyrus was right."

 _The three went away from the Ruins and stepped into the chilly atmosphere of Snowdin Forest, and while Roger didn't have anything to cover Frisk with - he didn't regret his decision of giving away his blue shirt, while he stood just in his undershirt. Both Papyrus and Frisk looked at him with worry, but he shrugged away the cold and started walking down the snowy pathway ahead._

"IS YOUR FRIEND ALWAYS LIKE THAT?" _Papyrus asked, while he walked with Frisk._

"I think so." _Frisk could only say, looking at the undershirted man before them._ "Roger, wait up!"

 _The three friends, human and monster, were now walking through the great forest of Snowdin, and the two humans wondered if there was anyone else living in the Underground. It would be really curious if Papyrus was the sole inhabitant of the Underground - and quite scary, Frisk could think - but Roger was more interested in hearing about what was Papyrus doing, exactly, in his quality as a star of the Underground.  
_

"WELL, I AM MOSTLY TOURING THE UNDERGROUND IN MY CAR." _Papyrus said,_ "BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IS IT NOW."

"What? Your car tends to disappear? Or you just forget where you parked it?" _Roger inquired._

"IT IS MOSTLY THE FIRST. IT DISAPPEARS QUITE OFTEN. I SUSPECT MY BROTHER IS BEHIND THIS." _Papyrus could huff, his expression a bit annoyed._

"Is he that 'someone' who is a human-hunting fanatic?" _Frisk asked, with a bit of worry in their voice._

"YES." _Papyrus deadpanned._ "BUT HE WON'T ACTUALLY DO THAT. IT'S JUST A FIGURE OF SPEECH."

 _The remainder of their journey was filled with a lot of jokes, small talk, and sometimes snow fights as Frisk enjoyed seeing so much snow, while Roger was beginning to feel a little chilly. His bravado might not be a good thing, after all...but he is just trying to see the child well taken care of - they stopped at a moment, seeing a bird-like monster trying to dish out jokes, and Frisk laughed at the small puns the bird made.  
_

"THAT IS SNOWDRAKE." _Papyrus squinted his eyes._ "HE TRIES TO BE A COMEDIAN, JUST LIKE MY BROTHER."

" _Chill_ out, Papyrus, your brother's puns are _snow_ problem for me." _Snowdrake said, as he ruffled his feathers._

"...THE MORE I HEAR YOUR PUNS, THE LESS I WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND." _Papyrus folded his arms, shooting a glare towards the bird-like monster._

"Your friends look like they aren't bothered at all. Well, fine, I'm going elsewhere for practice." _Snowdrake said, as he flew away._

 _After meeting another monster, the certainty that Papyrus was the only monster living here was slowly fading away, in the two humans' minds. It looked like the monsters were quite nice...and they didn't really want to harm them._ **'Maybe not just yet,'** _Roger could muse,_ **'but who knows when a monster won't be just as friendly as these two?'** ** _  
_**

 _It was a thought Roger was about to take back, when he saw a white leopard guarding the passage ahead, roaring aloud_ **"Who goes there?** **If the one going there is a human...** **THEY WON'T GET OUT...ALIVE."** _and instantly, the three felt their SOULS tugged out, prompting a battle ahead. One thing was certain for Roger - if this fight was going to be anything like the first one - they would be in big trouble. Frisk was impressed with the leopard before them, while Papyrus nonchalantly greeted the monster before him._ **  
**

"PARVOS, NICE TO SEE YOU HERE!" _the dashing skeleton said, adopting his famous pose._

"What the **HELL** are you doing with these two **HUMANS?!** " _the leopard roared as he was only thinking of the Guard's goal._

"THEY MEAN US NO HARM-" _Papyrus said, only to be cut off by a violent dash that Parvos initiated._

 _The skeleton, out of pure fear, managed to form a defensive shield from his blue magic bones, enveloping himself and his friends in. Roger was thankful that, this time, Papyrus' force was on their side, and Frisk kept themselves near Roger, fear also written in their eyes._ **'WHY WOULD PARVOS ATTACK US AT ALL?'** _Papyrus thought as his wall of bone deflected the leopard's attack, and then fought back with an array of bones - even though Roger could see this wasn't the skeleton's intention at all - which the leopard evaded with ease._ **  
**

"Surrender those HUMANS, Papyrus! Do not make me use my entire force!" _Parvos taunted the skeleton._

"THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!" _Papyrus said, enveloping the leopard's SOUL in his signature blue magic._ "LET US PASS!" _he yelled as he tossed away the leopard in a few trees, snow falling on top of him._

 _Flowey and Napstablook were watching the short fight, hoping that the leopard would win - but somehow, both monsters were restraining one another - and the former huffed in annoyance over the result,_ "TCH. AND HERE I THOUGHT THE FREAKING FELINE WILL KILL THE SKELETON. NO MATTER, NO MATTER...SOMEONE ELSE WILL DO THE DIRTY JOB...", _while Napstablook restrained himself from saying anything. Instead, the corrupted ghost had a plan of its' own..._  



	10. Chapter Nine: Fate-Defying Wishes

**Me: This chapter has gone from an insane dark to a somewhat happy note...? I am still confuzzled.**

 **Shamir: You're always like that, lately...**

 **Me: Nope. I never thought I could write something like that.  
**

 **Shamir: Someone looks like they didn't enjoy something.**

 **Me: ...More of that later.**

 **Rolling...in the Darkness!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER NINE: FATE-DEFYING WISHES  
**

 _There was still a deep confusion within Papyrus's SOUL, as the humans haven't acted in any way hostile - yet the leopard that just attacked them was completely disregarding that, in front of him, stood Papyrus the Underground Star - the first thought crossing his mind was that, perhaps, the Royal Guard's Captain have ordered them to kill the humans on sight, a thing that the dashing skeleton was not fully convinced of. If Sans was correct about the feline ruling the Royal Guard with a strong paw, then the Captain wouldn't act so rashly without intent. He would rather be a master tactician, planning out in advance, waiting for the enemy's next move - and when the situation would look incredibly dire, **only then** there would be blood spilling around.  
_

 _So why was this feline charging at them, again?_

 _Even the two humans were confused at the sudden lash from another monster - Roger's mistrust in the monsters just increased with that attack, while Frisk was more scared than ever - but then again, Papyrus defended them._ **'He may have just as well defended himself, not really us,'** _Roger mused as he looked at the skeleton with his eyebrows arched in questioning, while holding tighter Frisk's hand. And the chillness still went to him - he was freezing completely - and Papyrus, out of his generosity, lent Roger his large blue jacket, which the latter took with some reluctance._

"I AM A SKELETON. I DO NOT FREEZE...WELL NOT COMPLETELY, AT LEAST." _Papyrus justified his act towards Roger._ _  
_

"Thanks. I-I can feel the cold dissipating right now." _Roger could say, in some acknowledgement._ "Frisk, you okay? The cold isn't bothering ya?"

"No, I am okay. The sweater is really he-" _but Frisk stopped mid-sentence as they sneezed._

"Not really helpful. Come on, buddy. Hang tight on me, the jacket is large enough to warm us both." _Roger said with a joking grin on his face._

"YOU LOOK LIKE YOU KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THE CHILD." _Papyrus said, surprised by the fatherly attitude Roger tried to adopt._

"Not quite, Papyrus." _Roger said dismissively._ "Are we close to...how did you say, Snowdin?"

"YES, WE ARE. LET US HOPE NO MORE DANGER IS GETTING AHEAD. I'M STARTING TO BE SCARED FOR MY LIFE." _Papyrus deadpanned._

 _Ahead of them, the forest didn't seem to have an end - but come to think of it, when Roger looked back, it didn't seem to have a beginning from where they were - it was so incredibly dense, they would've gotten lost had it not been for Papyrus's somewhat helpful guidance. Even so, it looked like the monsters weren't really **content** with seeing humans around here - whatever happened to them was probably the cause for said annoyance towards humans - and while Roger wasn't himself a huge fan of humanity, seeing monsters going for the same thing, it definitely made him consider that there was no difference between this Underground and the human world.  
_

 _Frisk was all concerned if they would be able to get out alive, along with Roger - it was their only wish, really - and they were determined to see that wish becoming real. For Roger, however, the certainty of danger befalling them - and Papyrus too - was written all over his face, that much Frisk could see and understand. For it was the very same look the young man gave them when they talked about Sam, a look of something already set in place, of something that cannot possibly be changed. They clinged to the man in fear, while the latter softly patted their messy hair._

"We'll find a solution to this, Frisk. **I promise.** " _Roger said as they were treading through the white snow, a decisive look glinting in his eyes._

"Do you smell what I smell, Rasha?" _an unknown voice to the two - and known to the third - came out from a distance, through the wind._

"I smell...something different. A monster. Two humans. Something tells me..." _Ribras said as he readied a large, iron-plated axe with a fleur-de-lis on it.._

"They won't be leaving these grounds alive." _Rasha completed him, a similar iron-plated axe in her paws, with two red leaf clovers._

"This can't possibly be good." _Roger said as he saw the two sillhouettes approaching them._

"RIBRAS, RASHA! HOW ARE YOU-" _Papyrus greeted the feline couple nonchalantly, while Ribras silenced him with a paw._

 **"Do you think we're idiots, or what? You're conspiring with the humans, against the Underground! Have you forgotten your allegiances?!"  
** _Ribras roared as he tightened his grasp on the iron axe._ **"We have orders to take the human SOULS!"  
**

 _The two felines began attacking in turns, their iron axes colliding with Papyrus' walls of bone, that didn't look so effective right now - while his bone attacks were strong, he wasn't exactly trained in this field - and the dashing skeleton thought that would be his demise, along with the two humans he thought as friends._ **'SANS WAS RIGHT, I SHOULD'VE LEARNED TO DEFEND MYSELF!'** _Papyrus was thinking as he parried yet another striking blow aimed towards him and the humans, while fighting back with incessant waves of bones.  
_

 ** _'He's not going to last this long if I won't do something.'_** _Roger_ _mused as he tried to form a plan, while parrying with his bare hands the lashing strikes, cutting through the blue tuxedo, and making Papyrus' face scrunch up in disbelief. The skeleton was still concerned over how to protect himself and his new friends - he could feel his energy dropping slowly, with each consuming attack that was demanded out of him, and the two felines looked like they could keep this up all day._

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? I HAVE NOT BETRAYED ANYONE'S CAUSE!" _Papyrus tried to talk to the two, but his words landed on deaf ears._

"We can do this **all day**. Surrender the two humans and we'll cease our attack." _Rasha said as she looked through the skeleton._ "We do not wish to hurt one of our own, but if we must do so-"

 **"enough."** _a voice came from behind them._

 _While Roger couldn't see more, he was definitely sure the voice that has just spoken was a male's one. What surprised him more was that, out of the shadows, a small skeleton with a blue lab coat, black shorts and pink slippers. came closer to them. He was exactly the same height as Frisk, and looked like he was grinning. It was a mad grin by all means - because Roger could've sworn he saw the skeleton's left eye glowing a strong blue. Papyrus's jaw dropped at the sight of the skeleton, while Frisk waited patiently, holding a breath, as the confrontation proved to be even worse than now.  
_

 **"nobody touches my brobone. not even shamir's colleagues."** _the small skeleton said as he placed a bony hand in front of him._ **  
**

"SANS...I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS, BUT I'M RELIEVED TO SEE YOU HERE!" _Papyrus exhaled in relief, while sweat kept bedding on his forehead._

 **"tell me, fellas. do you want me to let shamir know of your reckless actions? he'll be more than happy to oblige."** _Sans said as above him, a Gaster Blaster started to manifest._

"He said we should be vigilant! And that we need the human souls!" _Ribras said, while his tail floofed at the sight of the blaster._

"maybe. but i didn't see the humans **do** anything yet. and as far as he told me, he ordered you to be vigilant, not to outright kill the humans." _Sans's eyes were closed as he uttered that phrase._

"I-" _Ribras said as his paws tightened on his fleur-de-lis donned iron axe._

"you all look so silly, trying to be the best in his eyes. but i think he has already chosen y'all as the best. and he added undyne on that list."

 _Their eyes shifted as Frisk's voice bellowed - shocking Roger with their strength - in the chilly air of Snowdin Forest, while the monsters seemed to flinch at the sheer amount of rage enveloped in that one question that cut through them.  
_

"WHY EVERYBODY WANTS TO HURT ME?!" _they asked, as tears broke in their eyes, and ran away from Roger's arms, into the unknown._

 **'Oh no.'** _Roger could think as he saw the child running off God-knows-where, while he stood in place with Ribras, Rasha, Sans and Papyrus. His anger was now no longer containable, and began punching Papyrus with all of his strength. While he wasn't affected, Roger didn't seem to notice the pain, nor the gaze from Sans - the latter was there to his and the humans' rescue, and the tall human just outright punched his brother. That wasn't a good move, in Sans' books, and it warranted killing on sight.  
_

"you think you can hurt a monster, eh? i want you to try that with **me.** " _Sans said as he engulfed Roger's SOUL in his blue magic._

 _Sans wasn't going to show any mercy for that - the human thought he could just do what he wanted - but the small skeleton was about to prove him so dead wrong. Keeping the young man's SOUL in his blue magic, he frowned and tossed Roger into a few fir trees. The researcher felt like he was hit by a damn train, because he began spitting blood. A lot of blood, by the looks of his hands, as he tried to clean himself away - but he was really close to dying. He looked towards the skeleton with foggy eyes, and advanced with a soft grin on his face.  
_

"Even if I die here...Frisk will carry on, my sacrifice won't be in vain." _Roger could say, before collapsing to the ground._

 ** _[Somewhere in Waterfall...]_**

 _While they were running, Frisk could feel a damp pain through their chest - the pain left them yelling - and yet, they didn't know why...because they went past Snowdin, and Roger wasn't coming after them. At first, they thought maybe he abandoned them, but he wouldn't do that, would he? He did so much for them, and, if Frisk was honest, he protected them after Sam was killed. They wiped their tears with one sleeve of their sweater, and kept on running, as if their life was fully depending on it.  
_

 _There would be no turning back, and different voices were calling out to Frisk, out of which one was recognizable...Sans' voice...  
_

[You've always wanted to be strong, to fight back, to teach everyone a lesson...

...hm...you look empty. bored. totally snuffed out in the excitement department. as in...you've done this thousands of times before...and the thrill is now totally gone.

In a world so dark and hostile and twisted as ours...how can you possibly succeed where I repeatedly failed?]

 **'Make it stop, make it stop...make it-'** _Frisk was thinking as they held onto their head, tears flowing endlessly, almost like a river, when their sobbing was cut off by the voice that saved them earlier._

"Human." _Shamir said, as his arms were folded, eyes still darting at the little human._ "As we speak, monsterkind has now six souls. I am dreadfully sorry for your friend...he seems to have not understood like you did, that mercy is a way too."

"He-" _Frisk's eyes lowered, their little fists clenched in a silent fury._

"Yes. Parvos told me about the capture...He was the SOUL of Perseverance, was he not?"

"I do not know! All I know is that _you_ killed him! And I'm not going to let you take him away from me..." _Frisk laughed with a degree of insanity as he called out, unknowingly, to their SOUL._

 _Shamir's eyes narrowed to slits, and unsheathed rapidly one of his swords - he wasn't going to let the human do anything reckless - not when they were closer to reaching the goal of leaving this blasted Underground...and he began slashing towards the child, only to be repelled by a strange red shield manifesting itself around the child. He could see them having a pocket knife in their hand, a strange grin plastered across their face. Of one thing he was certain - humans were able to damage monsters by willfully wishing they could do so - and a badly planned attack would go **very** wrong for him._

"You...you will die in here!" _Frisk gritted through their teeth as they tried to lash out towards Shamir._

 _The jaguar parried all the blows with ease, and let a few go down in his stride, but it certainly looked like the child wasn't thinking clearly. The pain was making them act wildly, forcing the Captain to act on his intention of killing humans - he knew that he hesitated enough in doing so anyway - and slashed towards the new crying and fighting child, while Frisk dodged carefully each swipe aimed at them. He then tried shooting sets of lightning bolts, but yet again, the child's DETERMINATION was making them evade those magical lightnings with grace._ **'This human fights well...but their dodging skills will not save them for long!'** _  
_

 _ **[Meanwhile, in Sans' Lab]**_

 **'i got the tall human's body in here. his soul is still here...and it's purple in colour. so he was the perseverent one. the only one that can really change the tides is the one with determination...'** _Sans mused as he contained Roger's SOUL within a glass-like large tube and placed it next to the others._ **'maybe if the human wasn't that reckless with hitting my brother, that wouldn't have happened.'  
**

 _He frowned for a bit as he looked through one of the cameras that caught Shamir's fight with the last human. Something felt incredibly curious about the human, he could've sworn he saw the child somewhere. Even Shamir said this himself - the small child looked so oddly familiar - it brought back interesting memories, from timelines Sans thought he would've forgotten by now._ "I just won't forget about these, won't I?" _he mumbled through his teeth as he looked at the cameras and saw himself fighting a human.  
_

["ya' know, i want some answers. i have a real _bone_ to pick with you." _Sans was saying in a really pissed off voice.  
_  
 **"Your puns are stupid. And what kind of answers do you expect from me?"** _a child's voice was ringing at the end._ **  
 _  
_**"i want to know why the heck you go on with this game. you give us monsters a happy ending and then RESET, as if you weren't fucking happy. ya might wanna stop this hell-loop you call 'play-time'.

 **Tch. Spare me the theatrics, Sans. I know you inside out.** "]

 _The memories were bound to haunt Sans, no matter what timeline he was in, no matter the universe he was in, a Genocide was going to follow each time a human fell down. Why? 'Cause said humans often got so bored of giving monsters the best ending, that they ended up Resetting and then murdering everyone. For some reason, he felt someone else must've been the mastermind behind these plans, because Shamir learnt that on his own - he was forced to fight someone he did not expect to. And also, for a long time, he has been begging Sans for some way to revive a certain Prince of the Monsters.  
_

 ** _[Days before the Humans' Falling Down. New Home, Asgore's bedroom.]_**

 _Shamir was still laying in Asgore's kingsized bed, still in recovery after the incident with Undyne. Neither he or Toriel could actually move around, so Asgore and Sans were placed in the rather awkward situations of being caretakers for the two - Sans for Shamir, Asgore for Toriel - but it was in this day that Shamir requested something odd of Sans. The jaguar monster didn't know much about his former brothers - if he could call them brothers - and he wanted to do something nice for his adoptive parents. He wanted to find a way in reviving Asriel, at least, because the Royal Guard Captain didn't want to see the sorrowful look on the Boss Monsters' faces anymore.  
_

"so, you want to bring asriel back from the dead? you have any idea what kind of wish you aim for?" _Sans asked him, as he looked in puzzlement towards his best friend, almost sure the latter must've lost his mind._

"I would go as far as giving him my SOUL, if that would be the case." _Shamir said, looking away from Sans' still questioning gaze._

"i dunno...the experiments with determination kinda failed...and asriel's dust is well kept in a container, somewhere in a locked room." _the small skeleton said, twiddling his thumbs._ "that lock is fire magic enabled, and there's no way i could open that door to-"

"But what if you snuck in?" _Shamir suggested, as he lifted himself a bit more to stand straight._ "I think that would help...Toriel-" _he paused_ , "Mother goes in there sometimes, at exact hours."

"are you dumb? tori would pick up on my magic instantly." _Sans said as he scratched the back of his head._

"You're very good at hiding your magical signature, Sans. Once I was looking over my shoulder, yet you weren't there..." _Shamir paused, trying to ease in his breathing,_ "and then you jumped out of nowhere with a Gaster Blaster. It was impressive."

 _"_ shut i _t._ it's nothing like what you do when i teach you about monsters' history - you pick it up so fast i barely have time to explain anything." _Sans laughed._

"About my wish...can you do something about it? And if you manage to...please, keep him a secret until I am ready to do so. I want to acquaint him with myself first, since he would be my brother."

 _Sans left out a long sigh before replying, as if he wasn't sure about the chances of that ending up in success...and even if it did, it might be weird for the young Prince.  
_ "i'll try what i can _fur_ end. but i can't deny, what you ask me is im _paws_ ible to do so."

"When did the mighty Sans the Skeleton Scientist just gave up on his projects, hmm?" _Shamir said with a teasing grin._ "I'm sure you'll do it, otherwise, it will take all my _purr_ suation to bring you back on the track, if you'd abandon this!"

"nice one there, good to see you're no longer that _quirky_ about my cat puns." _Sans grinned._

"I've grown to love them. Not all of them are un _purr_ fesional!" _Shamir laughed heartily, before leaving out a deep cough._ "I should be more careful...Undyne's kick in my chest was quite strong..."

 _ **[Present, Sans' Lab]**_

 _Sans explored the possibilty of creating a partial SOUL from the six souls that were laying in those_ _containers..._ **'this has to be a way...but will the souls be acceptant and won't just outright kill me for attempting this?'** _he mused while he looked at the six souls before him. **'determination**_ **would be useful too...'** _but he thought he could manage with just six souls, and a bit of Asriel's dust that he collected from Toriel's locked room - Shamir was right, sneaking in did prove effective, while sneaking out was a little more difficult to do - but nevertheless, Sans was sure he could bring to life the former prince. Alphys knew of this as well, but he didn't hand her the details on a plate...it was Shamir's wish he was talking about, and he didn't want to leave the cat out of the bag like his buddy did._ **'i still find it somewhat hard to believe he was adopted by tori, but...there's something in his demeanour that shows it. he has the dreemurrs' way of carrying themselves around, yet he's a ton prideful...just look at him how he fights against that kid, in extreme hostility...'** _  
_

 _Indeed, Shamir looked like he was relentless, while the kid was trying their best to hurt him, in those images caught up by the cameras of Waterfall. The Captain was no measly monster one human was going to take down - it would totally go the other way round -but Sans' mind was focused, right now, on reviving Asriel._ "shamir looked like he needed a brother...and tori and asgore looked like they needed their son back. welp...here goes nothing." _Sans said as he pulled a lever and static shock charges powered themselves around the dust and the six souls that were hovering above said dust. Zaps, whirrs, and entrancing chants could be heard as the skeleton watched in awe the souls pulsing rapidly and lifting the dust - as if modelling it - creating it while retaining the form of the original owner, and this whole procedure finished with a bright ball of light that blinded Sans for a good few minutes.  
_

 _After the light slowly dissipated, a form could be seen on the large, cold table, sitting on their rump. Something resembling fur could be discerned from that shadow, that lightly placed their paws front and gasped in surprise - and they sensed someone in the room. First feet, they walked towards Sans, handing out a white, fluffy paw and smiling weakly at them, while the skeleton could only freeze in surprise at the monster before him.  
_

 _He had actually done it._

 _He brought back Asriel, and the timeline was going to suffer a drastic change.  
_

 _The rules were broken...  
_

 _...and someone was not at all pleased with it._

 ** _"tHeRe wiLL bE heLL tO pAy foR tHis..."_**


	11. Chapter Ten: Unknown Danger At The Door

**Me: This chapter...I thought I could make it longer. I just...**

 **Shamir: No more self-blame, Shock. I found it interesting.**

 **Me: If you say so...I really hoped it would be longer.**

 **Shamir: Things are looking grim, anyway...**

 **Me: ...Yup. And someone's made a move.**

 **Danger...Approaching!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TEN: UNKNOWN DANGER AT THE DOOR  
**

 _Sans must've stood in there frozen for like, five minutes, until he blinked and shook back the paw extended towards him. The contact felt quite surreal, as Sans definitely excluded the possibility Shamir's idea would actually work, and then an avalanche of questions started to roll from the small, fluffy goat monster before him. Emphasis on avalanche, while Sans tried to see just how much Asriel really remembered.  
_

"Where am I?..." _Asriel blinked as he tried to figure out his bearings._

"hi. i'm sans. sans the scientist skeleton. and you just came back alive in this timeline." _Sans said, with his usual grin, towards the small goat._

"Wait, what? Who asked you to do this?..." _Asriel looked at the skeleton, while playing with one of his floppy ears._

"someone who knows his duty." _Sans said as he took a peek at the cameras in Waterfall._

 _Shamir was still fighting the human with extreme hostility, and while the latter didn't seem eager to give up, Shamir's strength was slowly draining itself._ **'I cannot go for too long like this...This human is determined to harm me. But I am more determined to see the goals of the Underground reached.'** _the jaguar captain mused as he went in for another lashing attack, while Frisk casually dodged and smirked. The child wasn't going to give up on his goal of getting **alive** from here - even if it mean defeating the current monster in front of them - Frisk lunged with the small pocket knife towards the large cat, while the latter parried with ease._

"When are you going to stop, human? I can go for this longer than you can," _Shamir said as he noticed the slight exhaustion on the child's face,_ "and I can assure you, **it will not end well for you! CHARGER SHOCK!** " _the jaguar roared as he started shooting series of lightning bolts towards the small human, a few of those bolts zapping them in the process, burning their clothes and hair partially._

"You've killed my friend..." _Frisk whispered under his breath._ "That's why I keep going...", _he added as he lunged for another attack, while Shamir saw himself forced to dodge yet again._

"If you insist on going...you're standing in front of the monsters' hopes! I will not let you pass. I swore I will not let any enemy of the Underground just walk away!" _Shamir roared again, while Frisk placed their hands at their ears, unable to avoid said roar._

 _ **[The Anti-Void]**_

 ** _"they're going at this shit for an hour already...i have to initiate that damned genocide. that overgrown furball is a glitch, and i absolutely HATE glitches. even the classic universe's code is altered...i'm gonna have to deal with those bastards later..."_ **_a strange voice, similar to Sans' one, was talking as he watched gaps of space in the Void, showing various images that portrayed Alternate Universes, where everything was completely changed. His fist clenched as the decision was taken, a Genocide had to be initiated in **that** timeline - it had to be completely erased.  
_

 _Thankfully, the kid looked like he showed some genocidal tendencies, but the problem was - just how was he going to convince the kid?_

 _He was also thinking about that **monochrome pipsqueak** who was on his trail._ **'damn him all to HELL. he's just standing in my way, each time i destroy these glitches...he is always going with that cretin spiel about how creativity is a good thing, and how the lives of these glitches mean somethin'. well...to me...NONE OF THESE SHOULD REALLY EXIST. no matter, things are going to change in this glitchy timeline...soon enough.** _  
_

 **and the idiot won't be able to avert this in time.**

 _ **[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]**_

"So...who asked for _this_? Was it Mom?" _Asriel asked, his curiosity unsatisfied, as Sans kept ignoring him._

"ya'll meet the fella soon enough. just wait. he wanted to know you personally."

"He? You don't mean _that large feline fighting that human_ , right?" _Asriel's eyes widened at the jaguar's insistent fighting with the human._

"like i said, you'll meet him soon enough." _Sans replied dryly, while his mind was repeatedly begging for Shamir to end this battle already._

 _The two kept staring at the cameras that showed a stalemate between Shamir and the human - the latter determined to see justice coming for his friend - and Sans could catch, in the corner of his eye, a small yellow star forming in front of the human._

"please, don't tell me he's gonna-"

"If he RESETS, my revival will be nonexistent?!" _Asriel said, almost afraid._

"if he does just a regular RESET, you'll be still alive. and registering the after-effects. i guess...you'll be remembering the timeline as much as i do." _the skeleton said, his bony hands deep in the pockets of his lab coat._ "still, my pal is going to meet you...even if it will be in a rather different setting."

 _The small skeleton frowned at the thought of a new bad memory in his skull - didn't he have enough already? - and knew that the kid was now set for **murder**. It was the first time a human didn't complete the good route and was outright forced to act like they were in the evil route. _**'tch. and come to think of it, apart from me and asgore, asriel will also retain there memories. damn it...such painful memories for just a kid...'** _Sans's grin lessened so much it became a thin line._

 _'_ i feel like i should warn you...it won't be a really nice memory." _the skeleton said, as he closed his eyes._

"Meeting the feline or...?" _Asriel asked, tilting his head in curiosity._

"it's something else i'm talking about. my pal is actually very nice," _Sans said, with a small grin,_ "once you get to know him."

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _He felt something shifting in the course of the wind, his generous blonde mane slightly flowing with it, while dread was creeping up to his SOUL unknowingly - he didn't want to tell Toriel just what exactly was about to happen - while she was the brains of the Kingdom, he did not want to see her risking too much for the sake of their ideals. Even though, Shamir wasn't going to follow this exact line, he was more than happy to risk everything for what he cared. He was prideful, that was sure, but he was also unwilling to let danger just walk freely through his home. Asgore was proud of raising at least him..._

 _He wished he could've raised Asriel to the same level - a tad prideful, a tad heroic, and generous at heart - the old king left out a heavy sigh, while shaking his head._ "Things are no longer going our way..." _he mumbled under his breath, while Toriel had a thoughtful look as her eyes were set on Asgore, that seemed to have stopped with gardening for a moment, demeanour suddenly changed. She knew him far too well, and he wasn't like that - except for the cases where something was going wrong._ _  
_

"Gorey, is anything the matter?" _she inquired on him, softly._

"Oh? Nothing, Tori...It's just merely getting colder in here." _he sheepishly excused himself while holding her in his arms._

"You _never_ complained about the cold until now. Are you _hiding_ something from me, Dreemurr?" _she said, staring with her fiery gaze at his eyes._

"I-Well, the truth is...I feel something strange is going on." _he said, in an honest voice._

"Maybe you're just tired, _Fluffybuns._ You've been gardening all day, after all."

 _ **[?]**_

 _After pressing the star that appeared in front of them, Frisk was teleported to a dark place...there was really nothing before them. Nothing...except faint sounds, here and there. Was it a memory? Or it was real? They didn't have much of an idea, until...they heard some rustling in the distance...or was it closer than they thought? It wasn't really simple to tell, in this place. A small boy, with a green sweater that had cream-coloured stripes and brown pants, approached them, a look of curiosity on his face. He looked like he'd seen his fair share of RESETS, whatever that exactly meant, but the gentle smile they had at first turned into a thin line, as the child before him was looking on the edge of insanity.  
_

"...So, you've come here, huh? What are you going to do now?" _the boy in front of them said, thei arms folded._

"I...I want to start over, when Roger was alive." _Frisk said, a determined look in their eyes._

"Do you really think this is the best choice? Why not just _give up_ , like I did?" _the boy waved one hand, dismissively._

"...No." _Frisk said._

 **"Chara. Leave the kid alone..."** _Napstablook said,_ **"They're on my side now...can't you see? It's...too late...to save THEM."** **  
**

 _Chara couldn't believe what he saw before him. Here was Frisk, the most determined and pacifist human he ever met, going down in despair, choosing to RESET instead of SAVING what could be saved...and it was also this other ghost. **This ghost** was looking like he did not giving a damn about what Chara tried to do, and his eyes squinted towards the child, whose hand was still shaking over the RESET button.  
_

"Frisk, don't do that! You have no idea what will happen if you do this!" _Chara tried to convince Frisk, but all of his persuasion landed on deaf ears._

"...No. And, frankly, I don't care. So, what are _you_ doing here," _Frisk asked as he looked towards Napstablook._

" **I am here...to make an offer.** " _Napstablook said._

"I'm not-" _Frisk said, only to be cut off by a loud screech from the white ghost._

 **"You will...listen. And...you will not refuse."**

"Fine." _Frisk folded their arms and looked at the ghost._

"Frisk, DON'T!" _Chara yelled as his eyes widened._

"...begone." _Frisk uttered under his breath._

 _Chara went away, frustration written all over his face. Why was his persuasion failing? Frisk had the same SOUL of Determination, they had the power to change everything...and they made the choice of turning the timeline to hell. A hell Chara was all too familiar with - run after run, the monsters were just simple toys for him - and both Sans and Alphys caused him a good share of RESETS, with the former it happened quite a lot, since he was strong. He understood that Frisk lost someone, but...just how far can one feed from pain? How long it will pass until they will just kill out of playing and end up just like Chara?_

 _No._

 _Chara HAD to prevent this somehow...he wasn't just going to let this slide. He wasn't going to be just an idle spectator while Frisk loses themselves to complete insanity - he didn't want to see another human going down this path. Wasn't it enough that the Light Blue SOUL of Patience did that with a monster? Turning said monster against their own race?...Chara witnessed it from afar...and someone else was going to relive the memories if Frisk did the RESET._ **'I just hope someone will stay in their path, cut off their pain...'** _Chara mentally huffed as he walked endlessly in the Void, until he bumped into someone._ **  
**

"GASTER?!" _Chara yelled in surprise as he looked at the shadowy, tall skeleton with a scar on his bony face._

"Ah. Chara. I did not expect to meet you so soon." _the former Royal Scientist said, with a scrutinizing gaze._

 _"What_ do you mean by that?" _Chara asked, as his brows furrowed in expectation._

"I believe you know Frisk will RESET. But Napstablook wants to share control over Frisk's body-" _Gaster said as he looked through Chara._

"...tch. That stupid ghost does exactly what _I_ would've done, if I were still evil. But I'm no longer evil, and Frisk is going down that path like _yesterday_ fast.", _the small boy folded his arms, and stomped lightly his left foot._

"Some larger events are about to unfold," _Gaster said as he fiddled with his hands._ "the Classic timeline will be going through serious danger."

"Just how am I going to warn them? I mean-" _Chara started pacing back and forth, until Gaster gently stopped him with a raised hand._

"You _can't._ All you can do is hope someone of this timeline actually _survives._ "

"Great. Minimal chances of survival, and huge chances of everything getting fucked up." _Chara facepalmed._

 _While Chara and Gaster were assessing the damage this timeline will suffer, and the possibilty of any survivor to remain alive, Frisk was still awaiting for the ghost before him to utter his deal. The child was starting to lose their patience, visible by drumming their fingers in the forearm and the furrowed brows, the RESET prompt still active in there, just awaiting a press.  
_

"So. I want to hear that deal, _ghost."_

 _"_ Let _me_ take control, _friend._ You'll have incredible benefits from that...and you'll be avenging your fallen friend. Don't you want that?" _Napstablook said, as he was hovering above Frisk._

[Didn't you want power? Witness it. Taste it. Embrace it, _a snarky, evilish voice said._

I just want you to figure out your time is almost over. And that you have to pay for your sins, _a boy's determined voice roared._

My...my soul carries no love, only LOVE! It's hollow, dark and empty! _Chara's voice roared within Frisk's mind._ ]

 **'What are these voices? These memories? Why-why do they come to me?'** _Frisk was thinking as their face was darkened, pulses of their SOUL echoing in the silence that surrounded the Void for a moment. It felt like time stopped, and Frisk's eyes were widened as the pulses of the SOUL continued to echo in the darkness, while Napstablook looked with indifference towards the small child, still waiting for their answer.  
_

"So?...What it's gonna be?"

"I..." _Frisk paused, but then nodded strongly,_ "I **agree.** " _, while yet another memory came back._

 _Frisk's eyes widened again as he could hear distinctly the snarky voice..._ [With you, I can leave chaos in my way. Together, we'll have the power to play with time and space as you want.] _Something was about to start, and it looked like barely anything would stand in its' way._

 _Chaos._

 _Chaos ensured by Frisk and Napstablook, the latter possessing Frisk's body, corrupting his SOUL as well - and Frisk's neutral expression changed to a horrid, hollowed expression belonging to the ghostly villain._ **'Flowey will be so surprised to see this."** , _he thought as he puppeteered Frisk's movements now._

 _He pressed the RESET button, and reality shifted a few moments after, causing ripples of after-effects in the timeline._

"Did you feel that, Gaster?" _Chara asked as something shifted around them._

"The child has given themselves in. And...there will be no stopping this." _Gaster sighed as he looked at Chara._ "However, there is hope for you, somewhere else. Let's just pray to whatever deity above that _someone will survive_ this."

 ** _[Anti-Void]_**

 **"finally. i was getting tired of their stupid spiel about the deal...i hope this bullshit will go according to plan, or otherwise, i'll have to go in and take that kid's SOUL myself."** _he frowned as ERRORS were visible in his eyes._ **'then again, my job will be done with that. this universe should've never existed in the first place...'** _he mused as he watched, through temporal rifts, what was about to happen. The Anti-Void was a blank canvas, and somewhere else, someone was on the trail for this Error Sans._ **  
**

 _A painter._

 _A painter that found the existence of alternate universes a real gift._

 _He fought daily against Error Sans, trying to hinder his plans of destroying them._

" **NOBODY** has the right to decide who's supposed or not to exist in this world..."

 ** _[Meanwhile, in the timeline..._**

 ** _Royal Guard's Training Grounds, Waterfall]_**

 _He was angry. Angry with the fact that the child just vanished from his face, forcing him to call this battle a bitter victory. He didn't want this, he aimed for **more** , he wanted to fulfill the hope everyone put their hearts to, but this time, he had to concede to the fact that his powers were not the best right now. He banged his right paw on the table, almost breaking it._ **'Darn it, one more forceful blow like that, and my favorite oak table will be gone. I should go out and train some more, to release this pent anger inside me.'** _Shamir said as he went out on the large field before him, where six training dummies were laying in front of his eyes, and narrowed his eyes to the point of slits._ **  
**

 _He unsheathed his sabres, and focused his attention on one dummy, powering the blades with lightning - he wanted to control Jaguar's Fury to a point where no exhaustion was present, yet so far, he didn't reach a level of progress._ _He didn't deny that he was able to control it a touch better, but he wasn't looking to be a disappointing Royal Captain. Expectations were asked out of him, and he was working so hard to make himself worthy of surpassing said expectations._ _  
_

"JAGUAR'S FURY! RRRAAAARGH!" _he roared as an X-shaped mark was left on the training dummy, while he panted with exhaustion, nearly half of his magic gone._ **'Not good enough! I have to-'** _  
_

 _"hey,_ shamir." _Sans's voice greeted the large feline, while the latter lost his focus and missed a blow he wanted to land on the next dummy._

 _Shamir left out a silent growl and sheathed back his swords, dusted his Delta-runed robes and looked at the small skeleton in front of him, who was accompanied by a hooded figure. His first instinct was to grip on one of the dual daggers, but Sans's left glowing eye was more than enough to make him give up on the attempt._ **'Perhaps I am just too wound up to think clearly.'** _the jaguar conceded and folded his paws, not before leaving out a long frustrated sigh and preparing himself for whatever Sans had to say. It must've been important if he came here with River Person._ _  
_

"before ya think that, he's not river person. it's someone you wanted to meet. drop the hood, kid." _Sans gestured towards the dark blue hooded figure._

 _Shamir took a good look at the small goat monster before him, while hurriedly asking the two to come inside his tent. In that time, Asriel could've sworn he was a tad intimidated by the outward appearance of this monster - his fur looked a little gruff and his jawline was determining a monster of action, one that is calculating his paws before doing anything - and he sat down next to Sans on the white ottoman, while Shamir was busy leaving out his swords on the table.  
_

 _It was his way to try and adopt a rather pacifist appearance, while still retaining that warrior aura of his - Sans was glad to see the two looking at each other in an intense study, as if trying to read each other's weaknesses. The large jaguar took an oak, strong seat and placed it in front of the two, his arms folded, and waited for his guests to speak.  
_

"asriel, this is my buddy shamir. shamir, this is asriel." _Sans said as he made the introductions, while the jaguar extended his large paw and shook somewhat gently the smaller paw of the goat monster. Asriel was surprised that, even though he was really strong, the jaguar monster before him had also a touch of gentleness in his actions._

"I am the _adopted_ son of King Asgore and Queen Toriel. I know you are their biological son," _Shamir said as he closed his eyes slowly._ "and I've waited until now to meet you."

"Wait, what about Chara?...Where's my brother Chara?!" _Asriel said, looking at the feline before him, some tears in his green eyes._

"unfortunately, i couldn't find a way to revive him. i'm sorry. i barely had the way to revive you, kid." _Sans said, a frown on his bony face, while fiddling with the pockets of his coat._

"Why did you want to meet me?" _Asriel sniffed, while wiping his tears away._

"I _wished_ to meet one of my former brothers. I heard stories about you two, and your...rather _unfortunate_ ending." _Shamir said as he looked away, sadness present in his eyes._

"But...when are we going to tell Mom and Dad...?" _the small goat monster blinked, confusion all over his face._

"At the right time, I hope," _Shamir exhaled._ "I'm not sure how they're going to take this, anyway..."

"Does anyone else know I'm back?" _Asriel asked, then paused for a moment,_ "...well, apart from you and Sans?"

"nobody else, kid. it was shamir's idea all along, and i joined him." _Sans said as he made large gestures with his hands._

 _The two monsters looked again at one another, and despite the rather **big** age difference between the two, they felt like brotherhood could be a very, very good idea and path for them to take, while Sans slowly chuckled. _**'if shamir's alphys and undyne's dad, what does that make asriel? their dunkle?'** _he mentally made a pun and threw himself into a fit of laughter, while Asriel and Shamir looked at him with questioning gazes on their faces.  
_

"sorry. i tend to cook up puns and end up laughing at them myself..." _Sans smiled sheepishly._

"That's okay, Sans, you're _cat_ astrophic at making others mentally pun to themselves. And by catastrophic I mean _really good._ " Shamir sweatdropped as he placed a small smile on his large snout.

"damnit, shamir! since when you've become a comedian?" _Sans teased the feline, while the latter laughed heartily._

 _"Not my fault_ you are a good pun teacher... _" the jaguar said as he scratched the back of his head._ "Say, Asriel. Want me to train you for a bit?"

"...You want _me_ to learn fighting?" _the small goat said as he blinked owlishly._

"You're going to need it, if you'll be _forced_ to fight! I suppose you don't want to be a weakling, is that right?" _the jaguar asked as he looked with folded arms at Asriel._

"...No. I want to fight back if needed be, Master Shamir." _Asriel said, a determined look in his eyes._

"Very good, very good, young one." _Shamir smiled as he looked at the young monster before him, but something stopped him in his tracks._ "Feel that?"

"yeah, i felt it...the timeline has RESET. and as i predicted, kid did a regular reset...gotta see what is in store for us."

 _ **[Ruins]**_

 **"Brother...it's me! I'm controlling the human!"** _Napstablook said as he was now face to face with Flowey._ **  
**

"WHAT?! YOU ACTED WITHOUT **MY** KNOWLEDGE?! JUST-" _the glitched flower said as he looked at the possessed human.  
_

 **"You know...while you're my brother...I feel like I have enough power...ON MY OWN!"** _Napstablook said as he lashed at Flowey repeatedly, until he turned the latter to dust.  
_

"Y-YOU...H-HOW...C-COULD YOU..." _was all Flowey could utter before turning to dust._

 _From a darkened corner, Sans looked at the possessed human who dusted the flower - a part of him was glad that the flower's evil influence will no longer corrupt the timeline, but on the other hand - the human looked **a lot** more dangerous than before._ **'damn. i'll hafta warn alphys so she keeps an eye on the human...'** _he mused as he teleported to Alphys and Undyne's home, set on warning them about the imminent danger that was going to befall everyone._ _  
_

 _The Genocide Route was just about to start, and they were in for a **worse** route than it was before - the human was no longer acting on their own volition, or if they did, their conscience was most likely **gone**. That could only spell nothing but **EXTERMINATION.**  
_

 ** _[?]_**

"Feel that, Chara? The chaos _you_ used to unleash will be undone by someone else..." _Gaster said as he opened a temporal rift, watching what was going on in the universe._ _  
_

"Let's just hope someone is mad enough to stop this..." _Chara mused as he rubbed a hand under his chin._

 _Even the darkness they were in echoed with the after-effects of the RESET - two other temporal rifts were opened, showing the Classic timeline, and the Altertale Universe - things didn't look so good for either of these universes should **this** timeline be gone. Whoever would survive - if there was any chance of survival, would most likely have **a hard time** to adjust to everything. Gaster himself was aware of what the Classics were aiming for his existence, while the Chara of this universe was content to remain a spiritual guide and force of the good...even if at times, it was easy for him to slip into that seething darkness he was once part of._

 ** _[Unknown Universe]_**

"Just in time...Error hasn't **yet** managed to destroy this one. Might as well guard this one **closely...** just so he won't cross with his stupid shenanigans here...but sadly, the tale of one universe will end so abruptly..." _the mysterious voice said as a few rainbow tears fell on the ground, white light remaining in their wake._ "He will **never** understand what creativity and willpower can do...and I will try everything to make sure he won't do this again..."

 _This particular universe was extremely different from Shamir's...it felt incredibly filled with creativity, with life, things The Painter loved so much and appreciated. He was fond of all the good universes, where the sun was shining brilliantly towards the monsters' good future, while the darkest ones...represented the embodiment of chaos...of neverending suffering, pain...universes like these caused great sorrow, yet even for a part of those - hope was there, sunken somewhere deep within._

 _One thing was certain...  
_

 _He could only hope that a survivor will emerge from that universe._


	12. Chapter Eleven: Song of Darkness

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: SONG OF DARKNESS  
**

 **Me: This started off nice.**

 **Shamir: It did.**

 **Me: ...Yup. You're right that it DID.  
**

 **It gets...Darker!**

* * *

 ** _[Royal Guards' Training Grounds, Waterfall]_**

 _Shamir and Asriel stood one in front of another, wind gently flowing their attires. The jaguar captain was willing to mold the little brother before him exactly as Asgore showed him before - pride, heroism and kindness - but Shamir often shrugged the kindness part, for the life of a Royal Guard was nothing like an ordinary monster's. There was no time to play, no time to waste on improving anything else than their fighting prowess. He wasn't really cool with the fact that Ribras and Rasha had decided to involve their personal life with the Guard's affairs, but they were the only ones he made a compromise with - even if he was a gruff warrior, kindness was somewhere deep buried inside that apparent cold stone SOUL of his. Parvos noticed that the ice on their captain's SOUL seemed to melt away since Undyne was now his prized student.  
_

 _She was growing stronger each day, with each spar and each perfected attack she could land on Shamir. And the feline monster was beaming with pride at how well she was improving, but he did not neglect Alphys. He looked at the small lizard and tried as much as he could to make her feel less awkward around other monsters - he was also impressed with the remarkable progress she did in the field of science. Recently, she built, along with Sans, a robot that could help out the Guard with capturing humans - and he was surprised to hear that she was in love with the small skeleton - nevertheless, like any respectable father would do, he gave her his blessing in keeping this relationship alive._

"Master Shamir?" _Asriel asked, looking at the jaguar, whose eyes seemingly sparkled with recollection._

"Yes, Asriel?" _Shamir retorted, blinking away his recollection._ "What is it."

"Are we ready to duel?" _the small goat asked, his paws grasping tightly his Chaos Saber._

"Okay. Stand ready!" _the jaguar captain said, as he moved a bit his paw over one of his Dual Sabers' handle._

 _The two warriors' swords clashed one upon the other, metal upon metal, with small aftershocks and then Asriel tried to land a diagonal swipe at Shamir, the latter letting it slide with ease, ducking under the blade. He smirked and retaliated, Asriel managing just in time to parry the jaguar's blow that came after, blocking the Dual Saber and pushing him a bit away, with what little strength he had.  
_

"Not bad, Asriel, not bad!" _the jaguar praised him._ "But in combat, you won't be able to rely just on brute force..." _he huffed a bit at that part,_ "even though _I_ prefer to try and use as less magic as possible, I will teach you to make use of both your force _and_ magic while battling an enemy."

"I can do that?" _Asriel blinked, as he stood in battle position, eyeing the jaguar in front of him._

"Of course. Toriel said you have a very, very creative mind." _Shamir said as a small smile graced his snout._ "We'd better work on that too!"

 _Asriel laughed a little, and then he charged at Shamir once more, this time using a lightning attack,_ "SHOCKER BREAKER!" _which Shamir had a little difficulty in avoiding - and was proud that the small monster was able to control electricity._ **'Hm...It would be a good thing to teach him a thing or two about lightning magic in combat.'** _the jaguar mused as he blocked the Chaos Saber and repelled the Shocker Breaker with his own Charger Shock, the two magical attacks sending out ripples of electric energy that powered down Alphys's experiments for a moment, as she was working in Sans' Lab. The two fighters looked like they didn't even sweat - Shamir was smart enough to figure that, due to his heritage as a Dreemurr, he would be extremely resillient, while he worked hard to reach that level of endurance.  
_

"Lightning magic can be a very, very good force, Asriel. Just remember to focus your attacks better." _Shamir carefully instructed as he sent towards the small goat a few sets of lightning shocks, and Asriel tried as hard as he could to counter the two, but his fur got a few notches darker in some parts._ "And you can use it on yourself too. It won't do any harm, as long as you are honing control over said element." _Shamir cared to demonstrate, as he coated his paws with lightning, and dashed towards Asriel, who tried to parry the subsequent blows that were aimed for him - his Chaos Saber could absorb that much energy - until he did something unexpected._

 _His Chaos Saber was lightning-coated due to the absorption - and a full-force strike managed to knock Shamir a few paces back, while the latter used his paws to parry the blow._ "Wow...that was- how did that happen?" _Asriel blinked in realisation, as this was the first solid blow he landed on the monster before him._

"I would call that an energy kidnapper," _Shamir joked as he looked at the Chaos Saber, exhaling with relief,_ "but that's a very good thing. It can turn someone's magic against them. Now, try to use lightning magic on yourself. Focus on coating one of your paws with it."

 _Asriel did as instructed, and he could feel ripples of electricity flowing in and out of his right paw._ "It looks...amazing!" _he said as he looked in awe._ "I'm a fire master, but I never knew I had access to _this_ as well!" _Shamir left out a small chuckle, while Asriel was still in awe at what happened,_ "Little brother, you are creative and taking risks when using said creativity. It will serve you well when you're going to fight stronger enemies. And...I have to teach you something else."

"What is it?" _the small goat monster said as he dissipated the Chaos Saber, while Shamir sheathed back his Dual Saber._

"I can see you're a very kind monster at heart, and would probably want to be merciful towards the ones you'll get to meet in your life. But..." _Shamir closed his eyes for a moment, only for the azure to turn a glazing red,_ **"Not everyone will appreciate you're a pacifist. Some will go as far as KILLING you for these views, and dejectedly refuse MERCY. That is why I am striving so hard to balance the need of fight with the need of mercy. Some will deserve the latter, some will deserve the former.** "

"But, but- I don't think everyone is bad out there..." _Asriel sheepishly looked towards the serious jaguar, whose arms were folded._

"I know what you mean, Asriel, but **there will be times when you just can't simply let someone take everything because you won't FIGHT. There will be times when FIGHTING might be the only solution.** "

 _Asriel tried to understand what Shamir's words meant, as he placed a thoughtful look on his face. The jaguar's expression was still a stern one, showing that he wasn't talking nonsense, and he stood on the rather humd grass of the Training Grounds, while Shamir did the same thing and closed his eyes, as if meditating. Sans was surprised at the rather moral stance his friend put on there - his pride was showing off more than ever, and yet, that pride was well honed this time - too bad he wasn't paying attention over this, to keep his pride like that, in the right place. The small skeleton shook his head as the two monsters seemed to form a small bond over there, and decided to go back to his lab, where Alphys was working with their secret project.  
_

 ** _[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]_**

"...it can't be going here!" _Alphys mumbled under her breath, while she was tinkering with some intricate wires before her._

"...yup, but you'll end up being _cooked_ like a chicken." _Sans said as he looked at the lizard, who was working at the panel of his machine._

 _Her curvaciousness was indeed something, from here, he could note as she swayed her hips while pondering the order of the wires. He must've stood there staring at that, until he decided to break the silence with that pun. Alphys jumped from the sudden noise and dropped the screwdriver, turning around to notice the rather funny look he had on his face - her arms were now folded as Sans blushed a little blue at being caught up in the act.  
_

"How long have you been standing there?" _she asked, in a rather serious, yet teasing tone._

"heh, i just admired how well your beauty shows...from the _backstage_." _Sans grinned, while Alphys blushed and covered her snout with her claws._

"S-SANS! Y-YOU CHEEKY B-BASTARD!" _she could utter before shooting a serious glare at him, while the skeleton looked unfazed._

"oh come on, what do you want me to do. i was just admiring the _view_. the _backseat_ looks very comfy." _he kept teasing her, until she placed a claw on his lips._

"Shut up, you silly skeleton!" _she said as she drew him in a hug, looking in his eyesockets._

"i can't stop myself near such a-MMPH!" _he was silenced as a pair of lips suddenly glued to him, forcing him to surrender to this rather passionate input from Alphys._

 _Their kiss was intense, just like the first time they made out in the lab - this time, it was her turn to be the bold one - and he found himself rather submissive to her fiery tongue making her way. They drew even closer to one another, bony hands and lizard claws tangled into one another, forgetting about what was happening in this timeline._

 _ **[Alphys and Undyne's home, Waterfall]**_

 _Undyne was standing all alone, in the gym, as she trained her stamina and endurace, per Shamir's instructions. He told her that today they won't be training, as he had something important to take care of - yet Ribras and Rasha paid her a visit, trying to be as friendly as they could towards the fish monster, as their captain suggested. The two felines were eager to have an offspring of their own, and to see Shamir so dedicated towards raising Undyne to his level, it made them change their tune and approach her with more warmth than before - they were getting ready to knock on the house's door, when Undyne's voice left out her famous NGAAAAAAHHHH! and Rasha took a peek through the larger window that caught her eye. What she saw, really surprised her.  
_

 _The fish monster was training **exactly** like Shamir - she could see the amount of focus Undyne was placing into her attacks, and how many, many spears were embedded in the room's walls, dummies and various other equipments Rasha wasn't knowledgeable of. It seemed like she was trying to focus her range, by all means...  
_

 _...but in fact, Undyne was trying to control her rage. The fact that she couldn't tone down her rage was a flaw Shamir pointed out and tried to improve each day, but it seemed borderline impossible._ **'He told me this will be my biggest weakness...'** _Undyne mused as she looked at the damage before her and sweatdropped. Her sister will be mad again for destroying the gym the umpetenth time, but she was lucky that Alphys was quite understanding with that - Shamir still refused to live with them, because he didn't want to be a burden, and besides, he was close by and much more content in staying within his tent._ **  
**

"Ribras, did you see that?" _Rasha said as she looked with widened eyes at the scene before her, while Ribras was standing there, arms folded.  
_

" _Sheesh_ _,_ I didn't expect her to make as much mess as Shamir does. Still, can't deny that _this_ is impressive." _Ribras noted as well._

"Let's just hang out with her for a while...Shamir is busy with something else." _Rasha said as she went down to knock on the door, while Ribras gave her a questioning look._

"So, what is he busy with that he couldn't tell _us_ at least? I get he doesn't trust Parvos anymore, but-" _Ribras opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by Rasha's lifted paw._

"I have no idea. He just told me to check up on Undyne, and make sure she's okay. Looks like his icy demeanour tones down around her, and we have to inform her of the human's advancement. Since Captain Shamir is busy, someone else has to defend Waterfall. And we're in Snowdin, while Parvos was assigned to Hotland." _Rasha said._

 _Undyne's footsteps could be heard distinctly on the other side of the door, and she opened it as if thinking Alphys must've come back home, only to backtrack a little and notice the two feilnes from the Royal Guard at her door. It was definitely unexpected, as she was still in her training clothes and by all means, sweating from all the exercise, but she tried her best to be somewhat welcoming despite her appearance, so she beamed at the two with a large, goofy grin.  
_

"Uh...sorry guys, I wasn't expecting you to show up in here." _she said as she cleared her throat a little._ "I thought it was Alphys."

"It's alright, Undyne. Is it okay if we enter?" _Rasha said as she tilted her head._

"Uh...sure, I guess?" _Undyne said, hesitantly, before letting the two felines in._

"We have word that the human has returned and is slowly, but surely, advancing until here. We'll try to stop them in Snowdin if we can, but you'll have to handle Waterfall..." _Ribras said as he folded his paws, unsure if he could really give these news to Undyne._

"Wh-why me?" _the fish monster asked as she looked at the two in puzzlement.  
_

"You're a member of the Royal Guard, why do you even ask this?" _Rasha said, huffing a little._

"Right, I see. I'll try my best!" _Undyne said as she flashed a proud smile._

 ** _[Ruins]_**

 **"Now that my brother is gone...I can start killing!"** _Napstablook said as he hoisted the pocket knife in the air._ **"I...WILL...BE...THE ONLY RULER...of the Underground!"** _he screeched as he advanced further in the Ruins, the puzzles already solved by Roger's smarts._ **'I can be grateful to your friend, kid. He made OUR job a lot easier now.'** _Napstablook thought as he encountered a small, scared Froggit, and the monster looked with wide eyes at the scary human before him - the Froggit could only start running, while "Ribbit"-ing the hell out of himself to warn every other Froggit and Whimsun living in the Ruins - but Napstablook was not going to let them just walk away like that. It wasn't really surprising that, after a good five minutes run, the small monster was exhausted - and th_ _e only last resort this small Froggit had was to let himself caught, unaware that **this** human wasn't going to deal Mercy to him. _

_Napstablook, in Frisk's control, lashed out repeatedly at the defenseless Froggit, turning him into dust and increasing Frisk's LOVE, the ghost feeling a bit drunk at the sensation killing was offering him. His corruption was good enough to absorb well the after-effects of the first kill, and, with a creepy grin on his face, marched on in the Ruins, killing every living monster in there, until...  
_

 _Nobody came._

 _He then stopped at the end of the Ruins, walking into the room where the Toy Knife was._ **'That pathetic knife was not good. Now...THIS is more like it!'** _the ghost mused as he was now looking with curiosity at the new weapon, and was enjoying the silence in the Ruins as he headed towards the Old Home and the exit towards the rest of the Underground. Napstablook was sure nobody could stop him, as his powers were now virtually unlimited - he could SAVE and RESET, or LOAD any file just to make sure his domination over this land was complete. Nobody could really mess with him, as long as he held the key to the Monsters' demise...  
_

 _...nobody except the Royal Guard, maybe?  
_

 ** _[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]_**

"did'ja feel that?" _Sans asked Alphys, as they were holding off from another make-out session, slightly blushing and softly panting._

"Our numbers just diminished..." _Alphys said._ "Bet the human just cleaned the Ruins," _she exhaled as she straddled off the small skeleton._

"they're surely headin' here." _Sans said grimly, as he looked towards the console where all the camera feed was._ "but when they do...the royal guard will take 'em down. i just-"

"I know, Sans." _Alphys gently shushed the skeleton._ "Let's just make sure we can warn Shamir, and tell King Asgore and Queen Toriel about this, so we can make a stand at the Barrier, if anything."

"right. i'll talk to tori, you talk to shamir and make sure to take someone from there. it's better if the dreemurrs find out the mess from me." _Sans said as he warped out to New Home._

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _The King and Queen were standing in the throne room, examining the few reports about a human wandering in the Underground - Toriel was mad at Asgore for hiding her this, but after he explained he didn't want her to risk anyone's life nilly-willy, she seemed to have toned down a few notches. Still, the fact that a human was wandering the Underground and hasn't been caught yet, it spelt trouble for the Kingdom ahead - and from time to time, the two Boss Monsters would exchange glances that had a shadow of questioning in them - until a flash of light managed to render them blind and drop a few reports amongst the golden flowers.  
_

 _From the flash, emerged Sans, who had a really tired face and was still digging his hands in the lab coat's pockets, and some sweat was bedding on the skeleton's skull as he approached the two monsters before him. He couldn't help notice that both Dreemurrs had their battle armor on, meaning they might have known everything, or very little, at this point they were here, and he cleared his throat to break the silence._

"your majesties. i came down here cause...maybe you have heard, a human rolls in the underground." _he said sheepishly, as the two monsters gazed sternly at him._

"Have any ideas on how to prevent more deaths from occuring? We sensed our numbers just got smaller." _Toriel said, as she was still sternly looking at Sans._

"shamir has everything under control. he really does. but we hafta retreat to the barrier..." _Sans gestured towards the next room,_ "because at this point, we can't really do anything else but hope the guard does everything to stop this."

"We concede the point, but if this isn't averted...it will mean we'll be gone." _Asgore said, a bit grimly._

 ** _[Royal Guards' Training Grounds, Waterfall]_**

 _Shamir felt the shift in the wind, but Asriel wasn't able to pick it up so well - in any case, Shamir's time to stay idle was slowly running out, and he wasn't going to be caught up defenseless. He rose from the ground, and asked Asriel to wait outside, until he fully equipped himself. Asriel focused on summoning and dissipating the Chaos Saber at will, as well as controlling the small cracks of electricity around his right paw, while in his left one, he summoned a fireball. Inside the war tent, Shamir placed the Dual Sabers behind his back, set the bandana in place, and checked for his daggers, feeling quite rested and able to take on whatever enemy would be coming this time.  
_

 _Outside, Alphys arrived in a flick of light, blinding Asriel for a moment. The lizard monster gasped as she saw who was present before, and she couldn't believe her eyes - it must've surely been a prank, a prank from Sans - there was **no way** Prince Asriel was alive. There was no such possibility! He and his brother died years ago, at the hands of humans, who were exploring the Underground - but King Asgore decreed that the souls of **those** humans will never be used to break the barrier - and so monsterkind was forced to wait more until they would be free.  
_

 _Now they had six SOULS...and their victory was closer at hand._

"Pr-Prince Asriel?" _Alphys timidly asked, looking at the small goat before her, still believing it to be a prank.  
_

"Who're you?" _he retorted, studying the lizard before him._ "I've never seen you..."

 **'Did he lost his memory?'** _was the first thought Alphys had as she looked at him, while clearly remembering the times she babysat Asriel when Asgore and Toriel were out meeting the monsterfolks. And at that time, she didn't think she would enjoy looking after a child, but he rubbed off her with his cuteness - and now to see him looking at her with such a questioning gaze, it made her sad.  
_

 _The silence between the two seemed to have spoken volumes, for they would exchange curious looks towards one another, until Shamir walked out to check the noise and saw Alphys, her face in full shock at the sight of Asriel. He mentally facepalmed as now, he had to explain why was Asriel in here, with him.  
_

"Alphys? What are you doing here?" _Shamir said as he looked at the scared lizard before him, and at Asriel, whose head was tilted in curiosity.  
_

"Care to explain...how is Asriel **alive**?" _Alphys folded her arms, looking at the Captain before her._

 _Shamir exhaled slowly, and then began explaining everything to her, pausing from time to time to make sure both understood - because Asriel was also curious - and after a good five minutes rundown on everything, Alphys' reaction was completely shocked and started fiddling with her claws, her glasses foggy as emotions got the best of her._

"...and that's how he's here. And I'm training him, currently. Let me assume, the human is on its' way?" _the jaguar said as his eyes squinted._ "I hope Ribras and Rasha can face this human bravely..."

 ** _[Somewhere in Snowdin]_**

 _The snow crunched under the human's small feet, while Napstablook, in Frisk's control, was content to keep on killing - he had a lot of victims to choose from here, unlike the Ruins - and his first Snowdin target was Snowdrake, who was currently practising his ice puns as if nothing ever happened in the first place. Napstablook decided to adopt a seemingly different approach this time, pretending to be a nice human, and just when he would least expect it...  
_

" _Ice_ to meet you, human!" _Snowdrake ruffled his feathers, but when he saw the human staring at him, he thought his pun wasn't funny._ "Uh...it was fun, right?"

 **"...Nope."**

"You can't have that _cold_ of a heart, don't you?" _Snowdrake said as he tried another pun._

 **"Do I look like I care?"** _Napstablook said,_ **"Your puns are horrible."**

"I-just, don't give me the _cold_ shoulder, here."

 **"Are...you deaf? I said I don't care!"** _Napstablook lunged towards Snowdrake with the Toy Knife, closer to the beak._

"Really, you look like you didn't have a _chill out_ lately..." _Snowdrake kept making puns, even if he was sweating._

 ** _"SHUT...UP!"_** _Napstablook roared as he slashed the bird monster once, the gash starting to drop drip by drip, until Snowdrake turned to dust._

 _After he was done with Snowdrake, he decided to keep wandering around until a better challenge presented itself before him - dusting Ice Cap and Lesser Cat in the process - until it came to the first real showdown of this run so far. The genocidal human stopped before a large, wooden bridge, at its' other end being the first notable members of the Royal Guard trying to stop his advancement towards the barrier._

 _Ribras and Rasha._

 _The lion and his mate were tightening their grip on their axes, while their robes fluttered with the wind, the burden on their shoulders being quite heavy. It wasn't that simple, and the rumors about the human were only half-true - they didn't have any real special power, except the Toy Knife. However, because Napstablook was possessing them, their damage was solidly stronger and enough to make any monster dust before them - and therefore overriding the effects of LOVE.  
_

"Human! This is your **last** step on these grounds!" _Ribras roared, his eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at the human._

 **"Oh, look at you. You think yourselves so fierce, huh? You'll FALL before you even get a chance to rise!"** _Napstablook said, chuckling with insanity._

 _He then dashed towards the two monsters, jumping in mid-air as a ghostly light surrounded the Toy Knife, the speed of the charge considerable enough to bust through their defense, but Ribras was swift enough to block it with his axe, recoil from the blow pushing both human and monster apart as the latter clenched his teeth, and Rasha hurried to his help. She then charged towards the human, axe covered in blue magic, but she was put to a halt when the axe clashed against a faint red shield that surrounded the child, a smirk playing on the child's face.  
_

 **"Tsk. You're so...so stupid."** _Napstablook said as he backed a few steps from the attack._ **  
**

 _He then lunged towards her, rapid swipes in his attacks which she desperately tried to parry - a few wounds were leaking blood on her face from the lucky blows - until they broke the attack and looked towards one another, each squinting their eyes. Ribras then gently pushed her back and he dug his hind legs in the snow that was now coated with some blood due to his wife's wounds - this was not going to be unpunished, of that much he was certain._

 _Ribras jumped in mid-air, axe on front, aiming to split the child's head open, but Napstablook dodged fast - thanks to Frisk's ability - and Ribras ended up digging his axe deep in the ground with a long metallic vibration. Napstablook wasted no time in attacking the lion, and threw with some swiftness the Toy Knife towards him, hitting Ribras in the chest, busting an artery in the process._ **'The lion was so stupidly busy in trying to recover his axe, he didn't look at my moves at all.'** _the possessed human thought as blood and dust were mingling with the snow, and Rasha was rendered speechless._

 _She tried to plead for mercy, but the same fate waited her as well._

 ** _EXTERMINATION._**

* * *

 **Looks like clock is still ticking for the timeline...but not for long.**

 **Shamir: What-what is this feeling?**

 **Me: ...I dunno. Until the next time, I guess?**


	13. Chapter Twelve: No Moral Stances (I)

**Me: No shit...  
**

 **Shamir: This surely came out faster than I thought.  
**

 **Me: Welp.**

 **Shamir: Still, you seem to be quite upset with me.**

 **Me: ...Tch, no. Sorry if this looks so short. This particular chapter IS intended to be in two parts.  
**

 **Descending into...Amorality!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWELVE: NO MORAL STANCES (I)  
**

 _ **[Waterfall]**_

 _It was her turn now._

 _The chances of her survival were low, and while she didn't have the full training the others had, she wanted to make Shamir proud of her actions, while the latter was concerned with a rather startling feeling - he was feeling a bit more empty than before - that must've meant someone from the Guard died. The former, however, didn't know just what **exactly** was in store or how long will she be able to resist in front of the spreading darkness that didn't seem to have a point of stopping._

 _Generally, monsterkind was now a lot more fearful than before, and Gerson thought that this was the moment the prophecy predicted,_ **'The angel will come and free us...from this _mortal_ realm...Tis' much is true, the bleaker outlook has started to catch upon me as well.' **_and he packed everything up, slowly heading towards the capital, where the Dreemurrs were. He was rejoicing at the thought he will see his old friends, but he wished the circumstance was slightly different than this, until the old tortoise bumped into Shyren, the siren-like monster, who sang a sorrowful tune._ **  
**

"...Eh? Where am I going?" _the tortoise squinted his healthy eye towards the monster._

 _"Ye-ye-yes,_ Gerson." _Shyren sang a little in her speech._

"Things are looking bleak, and...I am headed for the capital." _Gerson said as he coughed a little._

"I see, _hum-hu-hu._ " _the shy monster hummed._ "May I join you?"

"Of course."

 _ **[Meanwhile, in the Void...]**_

 _Gaster and Chara were having a rather heated argument as they looked at the events playing through the timeline, while also keeping score of the others - the Classic timeline was still going okay, with its' happy time, as well as the Altertale one - but there was something they didn't look like they had a point on.  
_

 _How to warn the Classic Universe stuff will go down in a matter of - probably - hours, how impending doom will be at their door, and the tall, black-dressed skeleton scientist looked at the small, spirit-like child before him, whose expression barely changed during their talks - and couldn't do much more than leaving out a long sigh, taking this argument - how many times have they run over this subject again?  
_

"...Look, Chara, as far as we can see, there's _nothing_ we can do right now. Their extermination has just begun, and be honest with yourself - do you **have** any plan against the possessed Frisk?"

"...No." _Chara said as he huffed in annoyance._ "But you know how much I hate being an idle watcher."

"Yes, yes. And your opinion of Sans begins to change, doesn't it?" _the tall scientist said as he looked towards the Classic timeline._

"...How's any of this remotely-" _the spirit child's eyes widened in surprise._

"You are watching, just like he did when you did Genocide once."

"I-He must've felt pretty **pissed**..."

 _Realization started to slowly kick in within Chara's mind, as he watched the temporal rifts of the three timelines,_ **'So that's...how it is to watch everyone around you die. I think Classic me went through a lot of this genocide stuff and...his brothers are helping him out. Just...look at how cute they can be together. Tch. When did I become such a softy...to quote Shamir's words.'** _and then folded back his arms as he looked at the rift showing Waterfall._

 _He could only hope that the jaguar monster will do the right thing, and find a way to free the monsters from this ordeal._ **  
**

 ** _[Anti-Void]_**

 **"no no no no no nO! this genocide goes far too long...gah! i really wish genocides were going faster than this...i just hope that _monochrome pipsqueak_ hasn't yet managed to reach this timeline...cause it will be very _bad_ for him if he does!"** _Error Sans said as his eyes were filled with ERRORS and blue threads were dancing around him._ **'and i hope none of the idiots in the void dare to mingle in my affair...cause...if they do...i'll make sure W.D. Gaster ends up dead'n'gone forever.'  
**

 _As the glitchy Error Sans was watching the whole deal going on, Altershift!Gaster was silently looking at the strange skeleton before him, pondering just how worse can someone end up. If Classic Gaster's theory was correct, any version of his would get revived...and he wanted to get back to Sans. Sans was his proud son, a result of one intricate experiment he performed long, long time ago...while Papyrus was adopted, being one of the younger assistants of his at the CORE - he was orphan since his existence, so Gaster saved him off the streets.  
_

 _He just waited to see how the timeline's life will end, yet he wanted to place his chances on a positive outcome.  
_

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _The two Boss Monsters were blinking with disbelief at the scene before them.  
They were sure fate was playing a cruel prank on them, because they didn't expect to see **this** , while Sans and Alphys were unflinching as they were willing to explain just what exactly happened - the first because he knew everything, the latter because she found out from Shamir's confession - yet still, Toriel and Asgore's gazes towards one another spelled a bit of anger and questioning, wondering just what did even get in their adopted son's mind to do such a thing. _

_Maybe he noticed something they didn't about themselves?  
_

 _Toriel sensed the signature magic of the Dreemurr family within the small goat monster, but she was still doubtful over it, mainly because it's been ever so long since she had the chance to hug her son. And where was Chara? Why only one of her sons was back, why not all of them? she could wonder silently as a few tears were flowing off her eyes, while Asgore tried to play support and be as strong as he could for Toriel, slowly placing one of his large paws over one of her smaller ones.  
_

"Tori...take your time." _he could utter as he shifted his gaze from Asriel, and then back to Toriel._

"After all this time... I-ASRIEL!" _Toriel rushed towards the small goat monster and hugged him, tears falling from her eyes._ "You're real..."

"Mom...I am as real as it gets," _he laughed softly through his own tears._ "I'm here, and I won't leave you two alone."

"Shamir took a really, really **risky** decision. But, all in all, it looks like it's for the best." _the king said as he walked towards Asriel._

"...my buddy and his decisions, right?" _Sans plastered a small grin on his face, while Alphys softly nodded._

 ** _[Waterfall]_**

 _She felt the shift in the wind as much as everyone else did.  
The two guards were most likely **dead** , and it would probably be her turn, but then again, she wanted to prove Shamir she was very good at this. That all the training with her wasn't wasted at all - she could only think about all the moments when they sparred. _

["Very well, Undyne!" _Shamir told her as she just landed a very good blow on him._

"Tch. Are you sure you're not letting me to win?" _she scoffed as she summoned a new spear._

"...No, I don't." _the jaguar said as he gripped tightly his Dual Sabers._ "I have told you before, I want to see you fit enough for the Guard. What good would it do if I'd be fighting with less than half of my power?"

"What?...You're using the same force against me?! Dad, I thought we went through this..." _she blushed as she realised her call out._

"Really, I-want to avoid as much as possible the idea of turning you into dust from such a simple practice spar."

"Please, I'm not a young fish monster anymore. I can take whatever's thrown at me." _she reinforced as she lunged to attack him again._ ]

 **'Ugh, sometimes he goes so protective over me...but he's like the dad I've never had, he cares for me and Alphy.'** _she could only muse as ahead of her laid the vast area between Snowdin and Waterfall, and she squinted her eyes in expectation. Her battle armor was shining brilliantly in the daylight, and while she didn't fight any human before, she wasn't going to fall down so easily - standing in front of danger was one of the things a Guard's life came with - and while a part of her was scared, the other side of her, the prideful Undyne, was glad to be a part of the team that kept the Underground safe. She could feel the fiery determination within her boiling, as well as the burden Shamir must've carried for so long - the burden to ensure everyone's hopes are fulfilled - and the fish monster sighed at the thought.  
_

 _He tried so hard to paint himself as the best warrior in the Underground, and when she defeated him so casually - well, technically he wasn't even defending himself, it was just her uncontrolled rage that pinned him to the wall - he must've felt his pride lost for a moment. But he was sensible enough to figure Undyne's potential and train her to be better - he forgot to teach her a lesson. A lesson, well, that she learnt on her own, while training._

 _Toning down one's pride._

 _Really, she saw just how much of that was stemming out of him, and it made her want to almost write a book for him "How to Keep Pride to a Minimum 101" - but that was probably because everyone looked at him and he had to keep the appearance of being a hero. Underneath, she could see the real Shamir, the jaguar monster with a heart that knew how to be gentle, and how to protect without being ever zealous - she could only shake her head in confusion. Was he really that afraid to show himself, afraid folks will take him for a softy feline monster?  
_

 **'Tch. I'll have to teach my Dad this lesson someday,'** _she laughed in her mind, but she stopped the moment a dark figure approached.  
_

 ** _[New Home]_**

 _After a very, very long walk through Hotlands, CORE and Papyrus' Resort, Gerson was finally in the capital, at Asgore and Toriel's doors.  
While the old tortoise wasn't a huge fan of Papyrus, he had to appreciate that the tall skeleton went out of his way for the fabled "Hammer of Justice", and ensured his short-stay at the Resort would be good - but then again, a pressing matter was in the old hero's mind - if everyone else was alright up to this point, and if any of his knowledge would help out the monsters in figuring out this crisis._

 _The few monsters that resided at Resort - that included Bratty, Catty and Burgerpants - were, in all honesty, afraid of what the future beheld for them, and they couldn't stop talking about it, no matter how hard they tried to encourage one another that things might be better. Gerson had to remind, albeit reluctantly, all that chatter going on in there - mainly because he **couldn't** avoid it, no matter how hard Papyrus wanted to convince these monsters to drop their negative talk.  
_

["Do you really think the Guard will do **something** , anything, to see that we don't end up dead?" _one monster was talking to another._

"Hey Bratty, did you hear that guy? He surely has a reaaally grey notion on the whole thing." _Catty said as she scratched her right ear with one of her purple paws._

"Yeah Catty, but you can't deny his greyness is what keeps us goin'," _the crocodile monster retorted as she yawned._

"I just-WANT-to get out of this-DAMNED-job!" _Burgerpants complained, as he fiddled with his paws, and sometimes glancing at Catty._

"Sheesh, brother, you really look like-" _Catty began to say, and that was Bratty's cue to join in._

"YOU NEED TO LAY IT TO REST FOR A LITTLE!" _the two female monsters laughed as Burgerpants' gaze shifted to the elevator that led to the Castle._

"Uh... take it from me, little sisters. I haven't laid my job to rest in a long time..." _the creamed cat said as he started smoking a cigar._ ]

 **'All that talk...it didn't look so cheery as it used to be. And now we're just toys at the hand of a criminal child...'** _Gerson could muse as he pushed the door of the Castle, wandering around in the all familiar building, until he reached the Throne Room, where Sans, Alphys, Toriel and Asgore...and Asriel...were standing, looking like they were discussing serious business. He had to blink at least thrice to make sure the Asriel he saw wasn't an illusion, and that the four monsters haven't gone completely mad, and cleared his throat to announce his presence.  
_

"Ahem. King Asgore, Queen Toriel..." _he bowed as respectfully as he could, due to his old age, and then he shifted his eye towards the other three monsters,  
_ "Sans, Alphys, and", _he paused,_ "am I seeing right with this ol' eye? The Prince of Monsters himself, Asriel Dreemurr?"

"Yes, Gerson, you are looking at Asriel. We have had much doubt as you did at first, but it's him." _Toriel said as she clasped her paws._

"Wa ha ha! And through what amazing miracle this has happened?" _the old tortoise asked, squinting a bit his healthy eye._

"through shamir's idea and my genius," _Sans said as he scratched his skull, a few drops of sweat barely visible._

"Eh? The jaguar came up with the idea of bringing back the Prince? Hmph, perhaps he's not a sore loser as I thought him to be." _Gerson said as he adjusted his explorer hat._

"Gerson, with all due respect, you're talking about our adopted son." _Asgore caved in, as he folded his burly arms._ "He is trying, that much can be seen, he wants to be the hero everyone will look up to."

"Hmph. Still, that doesn't diminish my disrespect towards him. He is a good warrior, yes, but in some matters he lacks proper training." _Gerson added as he folded his own arms._

"So. Let us get back to the matter at...er, paw. The human is near Waterfall, as we speak. I came down as fast as my old bones could carry me, if you needed assistance."

 _ **[Waterfall]**_

 _Shamir's mind was idly dawdling on a very, very important matter - if everything was going down, will he still remember these things?  
While he was a grown monster, he couldn't deny that Toriel and Asgore were such an amazing influence over him, especially when it came to showing kindness towards those who really deserved it - and when it was about serious decisions that could have a dangerous effect.  
_

 _At that point in his life, the two monsters were more focused on showing him the first part of their experience._

["Hey, give me back that sword!" _he mewed slightly louder, as two Looxes were bullying him._

"Hahaha, you're _never_ getting it back, dwarf!" _one of the Looxes said threateningly._

"Oh yeah? I will get it over your scratched faces!" _the little jaguar said as his paws clenched fiercely._

"SHAMIR, STOP." _Toriel's voice bellowed, and instantly, all of his rage just went away._ "What did I tell you about showing kindness, little one?"

"But they-!" _little Shamir was trying to protest, when Toriel gently shushed him._

" _They_ are the dwarves, in comparison to you." _she said as the small jaguar looked at her with a questioning face._

"They have no idea just what a great gift you did to them. _You_ gave them one of your toys, that they don't have."

"But, it-it wasn't like-" _little Shamir tried to justify their bullying, when Toriel looked at him with fiery eyes._

"Are we clear on today's lesson, dearest?" _Toriel said in a tone that was akin to tough love._

"Yes, Mother. We...we're clear."]

 _And somewhere nearer, danger was closing in, never to turn back._ **"This is going to be such, such a delicious run..."** _Napstablook sang as he entered Waterfall._ **"Domination over this land is cloose at hand...and my silly brother wanted to do this together...well, too bad he can't possess humans!"** _he laughed maniacally as the monsters that came in his way were rapidly turning to dust, posing so little threat to him, until he reached the first sentry station of Waterfall._ **  
**

 _There stood Undyne._

 _And what was about to befall her was going to chance Shamir..._

 _...Forever._

* * *

 **Shamir: What is going-  
**

 **Me: Shut up, ok.  
**

 **Shamir: Please, just one-  
**

 **Me: Shut up, man. No details at all.  
**

 **Shamir: *sweatdrops* Fine, you're the boss.  
**

 **Me: Thanks, _fur_ end. **

**Until we see one another again, readers.  
**


	14. Chapter Thirteen: No Moral Stances (II)

**Me: ...  
**

 **Shamir: ...**

 **Me: Let's just get this going.**

 **Danger...STARTS.**

* * *

 **NO MORAL STANCES (II)**

 _ **[New Home]**_

 _The room was filled with heavy tension, as the five monsters were exchanging looks, each trying to capture one another's thoughts on the matter at paw - while Asriel was feeling out of the loop, a bit unable to understand why they were so nervous - and the two Dreemurrs felt inclined not to divulge anything until they could present the whole deal in an understandable matter for their son. The old turtle, Gerson, tried to lay out everything he knew about the humans, and he insisted that the prophecy was a reality. That the human has arrived to exterminate them all, freeing their souls from this torment._

"haven't you said a while back that _this_ was the bleaker outlook folks took in?" _Sans asked the tortoise as his bony arms were folded and eyes closed._

"I am very much afraid that the times we're in, have influenced me as well. Still, you should consider yourself fortunate you haven't seen the First War." _Gerson said as recollection was sparkling in his healthy eye._

"He is right, Sans." _Toriel added in as her paws clasped, while her eyes were still filled with motherly concern over Asriel._

"I cannot believe such a dark day has arrived upon us." _Alphys said as she fiddled with her claws._ "If anything, the Guard's efforts so far haven't done anything. Is...this human...stronger than we thought?"

 _Asriel began pacing back and forth in the room, while stopping at one of the windows, his reflection seemingly visible in them. The capital stretched as far as his little green eyes could see, and in the horizon, black clouds were starting to gather on the former azure sky - and his mind was filled with memories of his dead brother, Chara._ **'I miss you, Chara. I wish you could've met Shamir...'** _the little prince was thinking as tears started to fall on his fluffy cheeks, a few quiet sobs escaping him._ _Toriel saw her son exhaling heavily and wiping a few tears with the right sleeve of his green, creamy-striped shirt and went slowly towards him, planting a soft paw over the latter's shoulder, the little prince jumping from the slight touch._

"I-I'm sorry, Mom." _Asriel began to say between tears._

"Asriel..." _Toriel softly relinquished his name while leveling to him, their eyes meeting._ "I know, I'm missing Chara too. But, I'm glad to have at least you back - it's a miracle I do not want to waste." _the motherly monster said as she hugged him, her warm breathing tickling Asriel's fur._

"Do...do you think Shamir will be strong?" _Asriel asked as his sobs seemed to cease, his mother's warmth was the best comfort.  
_

"I hope so, dear. I know he's not the best brother you could possibly have, but..." _Toriel said as she looked at the little goat before her,_ "he will do _everything_ to protect us."

 ** _[Hotland]_**

"I still can't believe Shamir moved ME in here! It's too hot for my fur..." _Parvos mumbled as he went up and down his sentry station, while the two feline RG 01 and RG 02 were patrolling the area._ "He is ALWAYS trying to earn all the glory, to be famous, and respected! But...but he fails to see something. He fails to see I will take his place, and not that brat!" _the white leopard said as he clenched his paw._ "I don't even know what he sees in her."

 _Monsters around Hotland thought this leopard was insane - if Shamir was prideful, having an insane leader of the Royal Guard was worse - at least the jaguar was sensible enough to listen up in understanding and take the necessary actions. Even Tsunderplane was agreeing to the fact Parvos was the worst member of the Royal Guard - and she was a little displeased that Sans made sure the Hotland puzzles were active - she couldn't just walk around freely, while Pyrope was glad to have her for some conversation.  
_

"I heard that the big ol' monsters are holed up in the capital." _Pyrope said._ "They want a _burning_ plan to go down against that human."

"I am not up for violence, but...my wings will be a good slicing machine for that one!" _Tsunderplane said as she blushed slightly._

"Hey, want some Nice Cream? It's hot, you could use something cool," _the Nice Cream Guy said as he handed two Nice Creams._ "Ten gold each."

"Yeah, thanks, NC." _Tsunderplane said._ "Be careful around the sentry station, that leopard is pissed."

"Huh? Parvos was usually in Waterfall...I know cause I saw him there!" _Nice Cream Guy sweatdropped._ "Uh, I assume the jaguar took Waterfall in. He's a braggart, but a brave one nonetheless."

"Yeah. I'd rather know him as the Guard's Captain than the leopard." _Pyrope added._

 ** _[Waterfall, Second Sentry Station]_**

 _The wind was howling strongly as the possessed human approached the area of Waterfall, scouting for any monsters he could kill, until his eyes landed on the fish monster with the large armor._ **'Curious...this little puny monster thinks they can stand in a station and be brave, huh?'** _Napstablook thought as a sick grin was plastered on Frisk's face, and his eyes darkened completely, and just as he was about to attack Undyne, a better suited prey came in sight for the evil ghost._

 _Monster Kid._

 **'Oooh, what do we have here? A hostage, hehehe.'** _Napstablook mused as in two moves, he was able to take Monster Kid by surprise and place the Toy Knife to his neck, and Undyne's eyes widened at the scene that unfolded before her. He was betting on her natural instinct to protect those younger than her, the ones with less capacity to defend themselves - in other words, he was using Undyne's weakness against her, he was using her bond with the lizard scientist, because the teen monster couldn't stop but mentally replacing MK with Alphys. What would she do, if Alphys was in that situation?  
_

 _Her thought was to sacrifice everything, as there's nothing more important than someone's life - no matter if it was Alphys or Monster Kid - she just **couldn't** let the kid be the human's hostage. She could see the sweat bedding on the armless lizard's skull, and his eyes widened, begging for help from someone, anyone - and then, deciding there were no other options, her eyes squinted and started shouting at the darkened figure before her. **"STOP, IN THE NAME OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"**_

 **"HA HA HA HA! You think yourself brave, little one? Can you save this poor soul from my knife?..."** _Napstablook grinned through Frisk's face, as he let out a banshee-like howl, draining the colour out of Monster Kid, whose eyes were still widened with terror as the Toy Knife was standing close to his neck.  
_

"Tch. You're just like any ordinary villain in Alphys' animes, all talk big and act big, while you're nothing but a **COWARD**!" _Undyne roared as she stood there, with her spear at the ready.  
_

"Me, a coward? You seem to forget I have a _hostage_. A hostage can instantly kill and their existence will be erased...what if instead of this kid here...was your dear sister Alphys?" _Napstablook said as he was goading her._

"How DARE you..." _Undyne mumbled as her face darkened for a moment, her eyes shining with determination,_ "SPEAK OF MY SISTER LIKE THIS!"

 _Undyne aimed her spear towards the human's head, while the ghost invoked a red shield that parried her attack instantly and grinned maniacally towards the fish monster, goading her even more._ **"Hmm...seems like someone didn't train you in tactics just yet. Did you think I was going to take it like this and die?"** _he said as his hand started to carve a wound in Monster Kid's skin, the latter yelling in pain._ **"Each time you'll do anything like this, I'll be cutting him deep. His yells start to be delicious to my ears."  
**

 _The fish monster looked in terror as the human before her did these atrocities, a hint of hesitation filling her SOUL, making her wonder just how could she win this battle, how to get past that red shield surrounding the child. If she would do just aimed attacks, that horrible creature would carve in Monster Kid, but if she'd make the human have no chance but to continously evade her attacks, then MK would have a chance to run - and that's exactly what she aimed for. No innocent folks between her and this stupid kid that's gone around killing everyone without an even opponent... **until now**.  
_

 ** _[Anti-Void]_**

 **"ooh, this looks interesting,"** _Error Sans said as he looked at the temporal rift._ **"the genocide is close to completion. once undyne falls, and shamir...nothing will stop napstablook and frisk from gaining rule over this..and then i'll destroy them. that freakin' ghost thought i'll let him live? bah, not going to happen!"** _the glitched skeleton said as ERRORS were filling his eyes and a glitched Gaster Blaster formed above his head._ **  
**

 _Somewhere behind him, Altershift!Gaster was looking at the rift too, and was silently hoping that one of the monsters will stand before the human._

 **'Please...one of...you...find a way to stop the human...'**

 _ **[Back in Altershift, Waterfall]**_

 _Undyne began summoning spears, while Napstablook tried to block them with his shield - only to notice that this time, the spears were stronger - they were leaving small cracks in what looked like it was an impenetrable shield. But Shamir taught Undyne than a shield could be broken if the will of the adversary wasn't strong enough - so well proven by the fact he purposefully showed the weakness of the Circle of Wind during their practice spars. And right now, the human's will was not so strong, given the fact that their chance at turning the fight in their favor just ran away - but Napstablook wasn't going to let the fish monster before him alive._

 _She will end up as **dead** as the others before her._

 _A mingle of red-white light covered the Toy Knife, and the possessed human started to run towards Undyne, jumping in mid-air to charge at her, his eyes hollowed and a plastered grin on his face, but Undyne parried the charge with her spear, and the recoil pushed the two back. Napstablook then placed the human's hands at their center, and started gathering energy to form a ball, while Undyne stood in a defensive stance to deflect the attack, her eyes squinted as the ghost finally released the ball of energy that clashed with the spear, the grinding between the two almost audible, and the teen monster struggled to control her spear - her eyes widened as the ball of energy was stronger than her water spear, defeating Undyne's resistance and hitting her in the chest._

"Is this how you plan to kill me? Energy attacks? That's **not** going to work on me!" _Undyne roared as she summoned sharper spears towards the human, who deflected the waves almost casually, until he did something completely unexpected._

 _He summoned a white sword, with red ripples of energy dancing around him._

 **"How about a little competition? Sword versus spear! Or...are you too much of a coward to face me?"** _the possessed Frisk said with a screechy voice, placing the white sword in front of him.  
_

 _Undyne readied her spear, and twirled it fiercefully, while cracking her neck and moving her shoulders a little, squinting her eyes as she pointed the spear towards the human, saying in a menacing voice,_ "Let's get this started."

 _Magic sword and magic spear danced around as they parried one another, ripples of energy bursting in and out of their clash - energy that was felt by Shamir - and it was obvious that neither adversary was ready to give up, although exhaustion seemed to be written on both of their faces. Still, Napstablook knew just where to hit her to finish this stupid battle that went down for almost an hour already, as Error Sans showed her and Parvos' first spar and how the leopard was aiming at her unprotected torso._ **'This time, Shamir won't be here to protect her from that blow...'** _the evil ghost thought as he was readying his sword, while Undyne was again twirling her spear._

 _Shamir, however, was frowning in regards to that energy surge he just felt - he was meditating when suddenly, his azure eyes turned red for no reason,_ **'Wonder what was that.'** _he mused as he started to walk away from the Royal Guards' Headquarters through a secret passage that led to the sentry station, one of his Dual Sabers unsheathed.  
_

 _In the meantime, the human and Undyne were still fighting fiercely, sword clashing with spear, until the human kept goading Undyne so she would fight with more and more ferocity, unable to actually plan her blows - she was just swinging at the human with blinded fury, while Napstablook was just waiting for the right moment to pierce her with the white sword while dodging the furious blows and parrying with what was left off the red shield. Until...  
_

 _The fighting was abruptly stopped by the human's impaling of Undyne with his sword._

 **'Wh-what...h-how did he...?'** _was all Undyne could think, as she collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from her large gash, while the human grinned maliciously._ **  
**

"Well...I was right about that, it seems. You are **not** brave...and you haven't stopped me. _Ciao, bella._ " _Napstablook said as he dissipated the sword and advanced further._

 _In the meantime, Undyne could feel how she was slowly, but surely melting in the nether. She was afraid that she wasn't going to tell her Dad just how much she loved him, when she heard a door creaking somewhere and some falling snow. But Shamir didn't care about getting snow on him, he could sense someone near, someone who was badly, badly injured, and was happy he made it to the sentry station. He didn't expect, however, to see..._

 _His precious daughter slaughtered to the point of sushi._

"UNDYNE!" _he hurriedly jumped next to her, sheathing his sword and checking her._ "Who did this to you?" _he asked while he tried to apply pressure on the large gash, his paws filled with blood._

"The...the human..." _Undyne said as she coughed some blood,_ "Dad..."

"Yes?" _Shamir looked with widened eyes as she was slowly turning to dust._

"I-I love you...and...be less...less pride...ful..." _Undyne said as she disappeared in the dust, wind carrying her away._

 _ **"THE HUMAN WILL PAY FOR THIS INSOLENCE..."** Shamir roared as his eyes were filled with an intense red, lightning covering both his paws._

* * *

 **Me: Welp, I seem to like cliffhangers myself.  
**

 **Shamir: *eyes red* ...**

 **Me: I know. And the chapter looks like it will have a bonus part.**

 **See y'all next time.**


	15. Chapter Fourteen: No Moral Stances (III)

**Me: ...**

 **Shamir: You look pretty fast in updating this.  
**

 **Me: ...Don't get me started.  
**

 **Shamir: Yes, you told me you tend to update twice in a day, if you're inspired.**

 **Me: Let's just cut to the chase.**

 **Fury...UNYIELDING!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOURTEEN: NO MORAL STANCES (III)  
**

 _There was no going back after this, it was certain for the jaguar captain, whose red eyes and lightning coated paws showed the purest form of rage that ever existed within him. If there was one thing he completely abhorred, it was letting someone just walk over him or his family - maybe he was prideful, and never paid attention to the fact his boasting will lead him to his end - but the last words of Undyne were painfully echoing through his head._

 _"I-I love you...and...be less...less pride...ful."_

 _As she turned to dust before him, Shamir felt like she tried to pass down a very, very important lesson, a lesson he seemed to overlook each time. A lesson about focusing one's pride for the greater goals and setting aside whatever else you knew about a thing - in order to learn something new, and possibly better for you._

 _His fists were clenched in fury, as he unsheathed his Dual Sabers and charged them with electricity, the robes violently flowing with the wind as adrenaline was running through his blood, searching for his prey. This was no longer about just saving the Underground, being a hero - it stopped being such a thing the moment Undyne died - but there was an issue._

 **'Will I be able to maintain this course of action?'** _he wondered as he ran with full speed in search of the human, leaving somewhat deep paws in the humid grass - a true mark of just how furious he was and how little mercy he would be sparing on this pathetic human - he just didn't seem to care. His task was to protect the Underground from this menace, a task he sorely failed at, given the fact Undyne died on his watch..._

 _If he failed to protect her, what would happen if the beastly human would reach his parents?_

 **'Mother...Father...I will...I WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU!'** _he thought as he kept chasing the human, until the jaguar caught a glimpse of a purple and pink shirt. He tightened his grasp on the two swords and let out a strong roar, which contained all of his unbridled fury and determination to see the bastard who killed his daughter dead._ _Surprised by such a noise, possessed Frisk felt his ears bleeding from that roar, as he tumbled in the dust of the smaller monsters remaining in Waterfall, while Shamir stood in place, blades drawn and eyes slit, fury dancing within them._

"Did you really think you're going to run away from **ME**?" _Shamir's voice bellowed in fury, a tone scarier than normal._

 **"Well, well. The famous Jaguar Captain."** _possessed Frisk said as a sick smile plastered itself on his face, twirling the Toy Knife._ **"I was wondering when you're going to show up."**

"Save your breath, bastard." _the jaguar Captain said as an aura of lightning slowly covers him,_ "Your time in here is over."

 **"Woo, big words."** _the human said as he was still standing back turned at Shamir._ **"You've finally set aside that pride?"**

 _Shamir knew that the human was just taunting him, and didn't move a muscle, though this didn't stop the jaguar monster from retorting,_ "I am aware of my sorry mistakes. But, if there's a tiny chance I will redeem myself, I will do so by ripping you to shreds."

 **"I have yet to see how you'll do that."** _Napstablook said with a scarier tone, as he summoned the white sword._ **"Or the prideful Captain can't take a little fight without getting his paws dirty?"** _he goaded Shamir as he turned to face him._

 _The tension in the air was almost visible as the two opponents were looking at each other with scrutinizing gazes, Shamir's robes fluttering with the wind, while Frisk's hair was messed up, and adding to that, it also started to rain. The jaguar's silent tears were hidden by the rain, as he was still grieving for Undyne's death - and he wanted to do everything to prevent the human from reaching the capital - getting his fur soaked was the last on his list of worries, while possessed Frisk's clothes were starting to get wet._

 _Through wind and rain, he thought that, maybe Undyne would be really proud to see him focused on the greater goal of protecting loved ones. He often forgot the real meaning of pride, because he was foolish to believe one cannot be at the same time a somewhat proud warrior and a gentle giant - but Undyne was determined to show him that he was wrong._

 _That he could be a kind monster, too._

 _Still, she didn't have the chance to show him the real jaguar hidden within that mask, the father she loved so much, the warrior she found it great to fight along._

 _And now, Shamir won't be learning this important lesson._

 _Blinking away his silent tears, he raised his sabers and charged towards the human, two strong, vertical swipes aimed at the beast before him, which Frisk managed to avoid by swiftly dodging in mid-air. The human was not at all surprised by the charge and retaliated with a swash aimed for the jaguar's head, which Shamir deflected with his sabers, metal clashing against magic sword, the recoil pushing the two a few paces back._

 **"Is that all you've got, old cat?"** _possessed Frisk asked as he looked at the jaguar before him, the latter's eyes still slit with fury._ "I expected you to give everything. After all, I've killed your precious little Undyne."

"You think I'm fooled by your taunts?" _Shamir retorted as the sabers charged with lightning._

 _The human started throwing energy balls towards Shamir, which he countered by summoning the Circle of Wind, the energy dissipating in small lightning bolts that left marks on the somewhat humid grass. Seeing that this attack failed, possessed Frisk then lunged with the sword towards the jaguar with a vertical slash, which Shamir let it slide as he dodged and a few drops of sweat bedded on the jaguar's forehead._

 **"Where's that fury that shows itself in your eyes? I haven't seen anything great yet! Be proud, roar it out! Fight with everything you've got...don't you want your Mommy to be proud of her little jaguar?"** _Napstablook taunted with Frisk's voice, as he landed on his feet, recovering a little after the shock._

"You still talk a lot, don't you?" _Shamir said as he started shooting sets of lightning strikes, with no intention of letting his enemy have any rest, while the possessed human was forced to dodge fast from the lightning strikes, as a few managed to reach him out and zap the human a little, burning their clothes near the shoulder and the top of his head._

 **"I am much more powerful than you, old cat."** _the human said as a dark aura began to manifest itself, while summoning a very large skeletal head above them._ **"Courtesy of a friend, they taught me how to use these little things. I just waited for a worthy foe to fall under them."**

 **'Th-they're similar to Sans' Blasters! N-no...'** _Shamir's expression changed to one of fear, as he looked at the blasters before him, and his only resort was to prepare a Circle of Wind, as wobbly as his willpower was right now, in order to defend himself._

 _The human shot a powerful crimson ray towards the defending jaguar, whose Circle of Wind didn't seem to withstand the full power of that ray, and propelled Shamir a yard away - knocking him into a solid wall of Waterfall. While he didn't have poor stamina, the force of that was ten times stronger than what he was used to, and from the corner of his snout, blood began to form a thin line. He coughed a bit to regain his breath, while his eyes were still burning with rage,_ **'It's now or never, Shamir. Y-you can't postpone this much longer...** ' _he advised himself as he charged, with all of his remaining force, the Dual Sabers, in order to finish the human with Jaguar's Fury._

 _ **[Meanwhile, in the Throne Room]**_

 _While Sans, Alphys, Asgore, Toriel and Gerson were discussing solutions for a backup plan in the eventuality the Guard failed - and the two Boss Monsters were genuinely concerned over their adopted son's risk - they felt their SOULS pulsing for a moment, as if something grave was happening._

"did'ja feel that?" _Sans said as his pinpricks were gone._ "somethin'...somethin's going on. i just hope, for the sake of the underground, that shamir isn't freaking dead."

"Actually, I wouldn't feel sorry-" _Gerson began to say, when he met Toriel's furious eyes alit with small, flickering flames._

"What did you just say, Gerson? If you weren't our friend," _she closed her eyes for a moment to tone down the rage, yet still kept a threatening tone,_ " **you** would've been burned to a crisp for this phrase alone."

"Tori's right, Gerson." _Asgore said as he looked at the old tortoise, giving off a condescending aura,_ "I think you judged our son too fast, simply because you think you were a better hero. I don't deny, your acts have saved our furs on more than one occasion," _the king paused,_ "but I believe you don't even give him a chance."

"Hey, what's that big lightning in the distance?" _Asriel called out to the monsters as he looked on the window in awe, front paws glued._

 _The monsters immediately gathered at the window, while Toriel placed her paws on Asriel's shoulders, and above him, she and Asgore exchanged worried looks. They have to tell Asriel just what was going on and hope he won't be foolishly going to save his older brother - the two Boss Monsters knew that it wasn't going well for their adopted son._

"Asriel..." _Asgore and Toriel both said as they knelt to the small goat's level._ "Shamir looks like he won't be holding out for too long. We told you he's the Captain of the Royal Guard, and that he will ensure things are going fine. But-"

"Be honest with me," _Asriel said as realization slowly kicked in,_ "you think he will die, right?"

 _Sans, Alphys and Gerson were shocked at how well the kid was taking the news, but given the fact Shamir's idea brought him back, it wasn't exactly surprising. While Gerson was now abstaining from saying anything, Sans was the one to break the pent-up silence that formed with the goat child's question._

"kid...how can you be so _cat_ ual about that?" _the skeleton said as he looked at Asriel._

"Not the time for puns, Sans." _Asriel said as he smiled weakly at the pun._ "I have to save-"

"No, you can't save him, Asriel." _Asgore said sternly, a look of sadness in his eyes._

"Wh-why not? He's my **brother!** " _Asriel shouted defiantly._ "We have to do something!"

 _ **[Anti-Void]**_

 _The blank space was filled with whirrs of energy and shifting winds as the situation was getting tense by the moment - and the inhabitant of this space was not at all pleased with the evolution of this situation. This timeline was taking too long to erase, and his patience was pasta point where he could tolerate shenanigans of this - he pointed towards the open rift of Altershift, in the throne room, as he ranted towards Asriel's suggestion._ **"hell no, you won't be doing anything, asriel dreemurr! even in this damned timeline, you want to be a freaking savior. nope...time to intervene in this bullshit. it has gone for far too long."**

 _He then steeled his nerves for the exact time he would intervene in the timeline._

 _While Altershift! Gaster was watching as the timeline was about to meet its end._

 _ **[Void]**_

"Oh shit." _was all that As!Chara could utter as he saw his little brother up and about saving Shamir._ "Has he gone a couple notches worse in the department of thinking?" _he huffed as he folded his arms._

"I sense something happening in the Anti-Void as well." _Gaster said as he frowned._

"Tch. You're lucky to have such deep knowledge of time-space stuff." _the spirit child said as he looked at the timelines before him._

"You have such knowledge of playing around with the timelines." _the scientist retorted as something akin to a smirk tried to form on his face, despite the seriousness of the situation._

"...Shut it. Looks like everyone wants to throw me to the lions..." _As!Chara said, while he pointed towards the Classic Universe,_ "still, things are hopeful for me there, as you said, Gaster. And besides, I seem to have more than a crush on Muffet. I'm pleased..." _the child blushed._

"Yes. I am sorry that this timeline has gone through such bad times." _the tall scientist said as he folded his bony arms._ "It seems like nobody could turn the tide for it."

 _ **[Somewhere in the Multiverse]**_

"i have to reach altershift...i really have to, or otherwise, error will erase it forever." _a skeleton with dual colored eyes, similar to Sans, said to someone as he opened a temporal rift._

"Just, uh, be sure to keep it online." _a mysterious voice replied to him._

 _Exhaling heavily, the skeleton jumped through the rift, landing in the Void, where Gaster and Chara waited. He hoped that something could be done to prevent the total extermination of Altershift - he wasn't going to let Error accomplish his goal, not when the lives of so many monsters, and humans, were on stake._

 _And speaking of humans..._

 _ **[Surface, Wichita Police HQ]**_

"What do you mean you haven't found them yet?!" _lt. Drew Richards yelled on the other side of the phone as a novice detective just reported that there hasn't been any answer from Roger or Frisk for a couple of days._

 _The lieutenant went all the legal ways to find his two friends, as he wanted to tell them he caught, after a lot of relentless pursuit, the killer of their friend, Sam. It certainly helped a lot that Roger told them that detail - like that, the first case on this organization was expanded, and the woman got a severe punishment - while the case of Roger's friend, Sam, ended just a few days ago. The man that killed innocent Sam was indeed part of the crime organization that sought to unleash terror and kill as many innocents as they could, all in the name of some radical ideas that tolerance wasn't a good thing and such._

 _And it certainly didn't make him feel better that his friends were missing._

"Sir, we found the abandoned Ford Mustang, and immediately searched it for clues. At first, we thought there wasn't anything of interest, until one of the detectives found a page that was under the Mustang's backseat." _the novice detective continued as he was forced to bear the brunt of the lieutenant._

"Okay, can you read that note for me?"

 _The detective began reading the note with pauses, as he sometimes couldn't understand Roger's handwriting._

" **Entry number..., ...year 1984.**

 **We're on the search for Ebott...City.**

 **I've met Toriel there, and I want to see her again.**

 **Frisk will surely warm up to her, she's such a gentle monster.**

 **Let's just... my mission will be a ...succes?**

 **Nobody will ever laugh about me...**

 **Again.**

 **P.S. Roger, be sure to take some chocolate with you."**

"That's an odd note," _lt. Richards said._ "Never heard of Ebott City, as far as I can recall. And who the heck is Toriel? I've never heard a ridiculous name like that."

"Sir, we should've detained him when we had the chance." _the detective said._

"He didn't strike me as a madman, but I'll see what background I can pull out on him about this...Ebott City."

"Sir...I can't help but wonder...what if they are dead out there somewhere?" _the detective mused as his voice was filled with worry._

"We can identify him, there's no problem about that." _lt. Richards said._ "Anyway, keep looking! That doesn't spare you of doing your job."

 _ **[Meanwhile, in the Void]**_

 _As!Chara and Gaster jumped as they saw a temporal rift opening behind them - Gaster was on ready with a large Gaster Blaster above his head, ready to greet whatever critter might have appeared from the other side, while Chara was still with his arms folded - until the tall scientist faintly recognized the skeleton who just jumped through the rift, cleaning his clothes from the black ink he would puke at times._

"oh, hello there, doctor gaster, and...altershift chara!" _he greeted them lightly, while he could sense that Altershift Chara wasn't going to trust him so easily._ "doctor gaster here knows me, but you don't. i'm ink. ink, the guardian of the multiverse."

"I was wondering when you're going to show up, Ink. I could sense some disturbance in the Anti-Void."

"me too, doc. that's why i showed up here, cause we need a plan, like yesterday fast. there's no time to lose on this one."

"Okay, what exactly do you suggest?" _Chara said as he tilted his head._

"I think that..."

 _ **[New Home, Throne Room]**_

 _The two Boss Monsters looked in puzzlement as Asriel was adamant on saving his older brother - he lost Chara already, he wasn't going to lose someone else because he was going to stand idle. Gerson admired the courage of the young prince, but admitted, much like Asgore and Toriel, that it was useless to act anymore._

 _The jaguar Captain could not be saved._

"Come on! We just can't let him die out there! He needs our help!" _Asriel yelled at the monsters, as tears formed in his eyes._ "Are you going to stay here like **and do nothing?! I won't let him die!"** _the small goat monster said as he went away through the large door._

"ASRIEL!" _his parents bellowed after him, but their son didn't even hear them, as he was running towards Waterfall, in an attempt to save his older brother._

"he really is a piece, isn't he? a true dreemurr that doesn't want to see anyone dead." _Sans said as he scratched his skull in shame, while Alphys' glasses were foggy and her claws sweaty._

"I have to admit, if they think the jaguar is good enough to be a hero..." _Gerson exhaled as he pondered carefully his words,_ "I want to see said hero in action."

"Me too!" _Alphys said as she stood next to Sans._

 _But their hopes and dreams were soon to be crushed..._

* * *

 **Me: The tale is about to end.  
**

 **Shamir: Tsk.**

 **Me: ...I'm struggling to keep spoilers to zero, so shut up.**

 **Shamir: You're really making me fight a lot.  
**

 **Me: You asked for it.**

 **'Till we met again, readers!**


	16. Chapter Fifteen: In the End, Start Anew

**Me: The curtain will fall.**

 **Shamir: Well, I surely enjoyed the tale.**

 **Me: Yeah, me too, it was fun writing it.**

 **Shamir: So...you're not mad at me?**

 **Me: No, you doof. You just have to learn a lot, and that's why I love you, buddy.**

 **Shamir: *sweatdrops* Good grief, you seem to like me despite my flaws...  
**

 **Me: ...Let's just start the chapter, the readers don't want to read our shenanigans.**

 **Shamir: ...This is the end.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FIFTEEN: IN THE END, START ANEW  
**

 _"Look around you. Is this how you want all this to end?"_

A war zone.

This was the description that could be graced, as the fog of battle slowly revealed a catastrophic background, where Shamir, the brave jaguar captain stood against the human whose destiny was to erase everyone in his hatred, with a little help from a certain corrupted ghost. Grass was burnt in some parts, in its' place being a lot of dark circles that formed after lightning struck, the once solid walls of Waterfall on the verge of collapsing, due to the recoils of battle and tossing around of the enemies. And to add to this sorry description, the only sound that could be heard was the cascade's furious torrent, as the wind's intensity was close to a hurricane's.

The fog of battle revealed the wounded jaguar, whose heavy breathing was rhythmic with the cascade's flowing while he dropped his swords for a moment, trying to regain whatever power was left within him. He held his right arm with his left paw, wincing from the effort and the various cuts the human managed to land on him, while his fur was in complete disarray and soaking wet. He could feel each breath hurt him on the inside too, as the latest blow must've broken some ribs, yet despite all those wounds and the blood running down his snout, he flashed a weak smile towards his adversary. With whatever strength he would muster right now, he would finish the human, and complete his duty - everyone would be proud of him for this.

Distinct pitter of paws could be heard in the distance, while on the other side, the human was laying face down, his hands gnawing at the grass in front, in a pitiful attempt to recollect his power. Their hair was left to a few strands, while the clothes were ripped and wounds were still bleeding in place where fiber should've been, and Napstablook thought that this couldn't be the end for them - he had to use one final blow towards the jaguar, to exterminate this enemy who seemed to keep on going, and going, no matter the wounds or exhaustion that was starting to show on his face.

The human slowly rose to their feet, a small, cracking evil laughter escaping their breath, while wincing in some pain as he looked at the monster before them. It had came to this, a final battle of whose blow is going to land first on the other, at the edge of their powers, and their hollow eyes affixed the jaguar, who was still weakly smiling as blood stained his snout.

"So," the human chuckled, "it has come to this. You and I on the verge of our powers, trying to find a way to finish each other...isn't that delicious?"

Shamir didn't retort any comeback, as his ears were still perked, trying to figure out the owner of the distant pitter-pawing, while leaving out a long sigh. He definitely didn't want anyone to come between himself and the human, this was _his_ job, _his_ duty right now, and he won't be stopping for anyone - not even for his mother - and only should he fail, the next Guard would take over the duty.

That's how being a Guard worked for him, and he wasn't up to changing this right now, not in the middle of a crisis. Napstablook could see the jaguar's eyes sparkling with determination, a trait he didn't see so often in monsters - with the exception of the large, pitiful jaguar before him and Undyne - and right now, Shamir's determination was set on destroying the very threat walking through his home, the threat that took his foster daughter's life.

"Has the Captain given up on our little playtime?" the human called out to Shamir, but it looked like the monster before him didn't even hear. "Ignoring me, huh? You think I'm that stupid Ice Cap?"

"No." Shamir finally opened his mouth to speak, as he picked up his swords, his eyes squinted as silent fury filled them once again.

He was ready to put an end to this, as wounded as he was, and it was likewise for the human before him, because his enemy lifted the white and red sword and pointed it towards the monster. Drums of war started to chant inside the jaguar's mind, a distant memory of times gone awry, of final decisions that could shift the reality before him, and he charged his blades with lightning for one more time - aware that _this_ could drain his magic completely -

as well as his stamina, due to his sustained injuries, while the human's mind was slowly filling with thoughts of hatred, betrayal and darkness.

 **"this bullshit is over, fellas!"** a voice called out as a rift opened behind them, letting both opponents with eyes wide open as a glitch-like skeleton approached them, his whole body spelling ERROR and changing colors at will, with a maniacally plastered grin. Napstablook knew it was their friend, while Shamir knew that this new monster was yet another enemy, due to the demeanor the skeleton had.

"Who...who're you, skeleton?" Shamir said as his eyes turned towards the glitchy skeleton, while the latter kept his grin on, snapping his fingers in irritation.

 **"let's just say...i'm your worst nightmare, shamir."** he said as a glitchy Gaster Blaster was hovering above him.

This was only spelling trouble for the jaguar, as his face darkened in anticipation - he figured that this was the end - and steeled his mindset to stay there, take it in full force as there's nothing else left. **'He's a lot more powerful than my friend...and even this blasted human in here...'** Shamir could only think as his eyes closed, breathing in and out, knowing there was no way to survive this, until something unexpected happened.

"Why don't you kill the freaking bastard?" Napstablook asked as he left out the human's body, which collapsed with a heavy thud due to the exhaustion endured. "Why the hell did you come here if you don't-!"

 **"did you really think i'm going to let you live, idiot?"** Error Sans said as he shot the blaster towards the ghost, who left out a screech as his SOUL was destroyed, the recoil of the blast pushed Shamir further away from the human. **"time to erase you, furry glitch."** the skeleton said menacingly as he took control over the human's SOUL and used their DETERMINATION to begin the timeline's erasure.

Shamir could see the world before him turning darker, yet darker, as the skeleton shot another ray from his glitchy Gaster Blaster that the jaguar deflected with a well-timed Jaguar Fury, but the recoil from this particular clash threw the latter into the open rift, without knowing what was going to befall him next.

 _ **[Altertale Universe]**_

He couldn't remember much, only the fight, the fall...and then white light.

Everything else was fuzzy.

He opened his eyes to feel the humid grass under his snout, and then he felt something familiar - pain - his head hurt horribly, along with other parts of his body, while he could sense his magical reserves completely drained. **'Ngh...whe-where...am I?'** he could think as he flipped on his back, looking at the dark ceiling above him. Blood was dried on his snout, while the cuts on his fur were starting to slowly heal, and felt like he could lay in here forever - the silence was indeed calming the rapid pulses of his SOUL - until he heard distinct pitter-patter in the distance, and slowly rose to his feet, shaking away any hesitation.

He looked around him, seeing that he was in Waterfall, but there was a difference to this place. There was a Royal Guard Headquarters in here, but it was... deserted, and very different, as the banners showed a dog print in there. **'Hm...I don't remember having any dogs in the Royal Guard.'** he mused as he looked at the ruins before him, but he could see the former Captain had a thing for tents too and he smiled weakly.

His ears perked up as some distinct pitter-patter could be heard in the distance, similar to a...human's walking. His eyes turned red at the very thought, the human must've eluded him after the skeleton intervened, and was probably coming down for a second fight. **'Well, this time, I'm going to make sure that they die on the spot.'**

A human girl with a purple and pink-striped shirt and a blue skirt was exploring this area, and she jumped in fear as the large jaguar appeared before her, swords unsheathed and eyes red with fury. If there was anything she could discern about the monster in front of her, was that he looked extremely **displeased** , and didn't look like he could be talked down to MERCY.

"You have eluded me for the last time, human! Now I'm going to take your SOUL away and my duty will be served!" Shamir said as he grinded his swords, faint lightning dancing away on the metal as light shone on the bloody snout of the jaguar.

"W-wait! I'm n-not your enemy!" the girl before him started cowering in fear, intimidated by the large stature of the jaguar. "Please, d-don't hurt me!"

"Begging for your life, human? **This** won't be happening!" the jaguar captain said as he lunged towards the defenseless human, only for his attack to be deflected by a powerful shield of fire. **'Wh-what?...'**

"...are you alright, lil child? is this obviously misguided kitten attacking you out of the blue?" a female wearing a purple jacket and pink sweaterdress said calmly, as she came down hearing the shrieks of the scared child.

"Tori!" the girl said as she beamed towards the motherly monster, exhaling in relief. "I don't know what's going on!...He lashed at me out of a sudden..."

"You dare to have my mother's name..." the jaguar said as he gritted his teeth, "and then you intervene in my fight! You're standing in the way of the Royal Guard!" Shamir said as his eyes squinted, obviously upset at the fact the monster just denied him the chance to complete his task.

Alter!Toriel stood in front of Alter!Frisk, staring casually at the feline. "eh? whaddya talkin' about? the royal guard's been disbanded for six years. you're...not from this timeline, are ya?" She tilted her head, as she noticed the sheer determination in the jaguar's eyes. "well, confused or not...ya might consider stopping whatever you're trying to do."

"I am not going to leave without the human's SOUL. I have to finish my task...and I won't let anyone else intervene!" he roared as loud as he could, before digging his hind legs in the humid grass. He was not going to back down, even if he didn't look really good right now.

"...sigh. if he keeps this up, the humans are gonna have a fit. stand back, lil child. this won't take long." Alter!Toriel said, her eyes flashing yellow as her sclera turned back. "...looks like somone needs to put you in a timeout."

The female goat monster's aura of fire gently coated her up as she stared at the monster who outright **dared** to hurt her precious Frisk. She ensured that absolutely nobody will ruin the progress they've worked so hard to achieve - peace with the humans - and this misguided jaguar just earned himself a place on the **bad time** list. On the other paw, Shamir looked at her with silent fury, ready to lunge at her - their sides were drastically different, yet so drastically similar - but he didn't have the time or the patience to listen right now.

All that mattered was that she was keeping the human SOUL he needed, and it wasn't enough that he landed in here - he had to fight against someone that resembled his mother, while being a lot smaller than he knew her. _"I'm feeling...quite strange. A bit hesitant too. Yet...I'm not going to let that human escape like that!"_

He began running towards her, lightning blades up, and then jumped in mid-air as he aimed for two vertical slashes, but Alter!Tori casually dodged as the blades hit the hard ground and left out a cheeky smile at the weakness of his attack. _"Ugh, how is she so fast?!"_ he thought as he pulled up his sabers, aiming to swipe again at her, this time with more force than the first blow, but she did nothing else than aim a fireball towards him that impacted his chest, pushing him away a few paces back.

"hm. you're obviously out of style. tryin' to hit a lady like that~" Alter!Toriel winked as she raised her paws, a plethora of green lights surrounding Shamir...She then clenched her paw as all twenty of them stuck to his body and denoted violently.

He left out a grunt of pain as the lights zapped him violently, leaving him unable to focus his stance. _"Damnit! She's stronger than I thought...but for some odd reason, my magic seems to be back."_ he thought as he could feel energy running through his body, despite his sorry state.

"You're really strong...and it's impressive. But...I think I have to thank you for giving me a chance..." the jaguar smirked as he was now able to charge his paws with electricity, "...to show you just how strong I am."

Alter!Toriel smiled at the stupidity of the monster before her. "more like giving you a chance to show how weak you truly are. both in mind and spirit. power...buddy. you can't compare to anyone in this timeline. especially me." Her smile turned into a frown as her sclera turned black. "You don't really know what's going on here, so I'll cut ya a break. But if you keep going like this, i'm gonna drop my mercy. This is your final warning."

"That kind of superiority isn't going to bode well for you. If you think yourself superior than a Royal Captain...then you're wrong!" Shamir said as he roared powerfully towards the goat monster, forcing her for a moment to place her paws to her ears, while keeping up a shield of fire to block the jaguar's strong, yet-not-so-strong lightning strikes.

She wasn't going to tolerate his nonsense, that much was obvious - she dusted her skirt, while sighing at the sorry sight before her - and then her eyes flared menacingly, seeing this monster won't be listening to reason."alright, i gave you a chance. remember that," she said before disappearing in a flash of fire.

 **'What? Where did she-ACK!'** Shamir was desperately searching for her when he felt pushed to the ground by twenty rapid fireballs, Alter!Tori's paws showing steam due to the intense heat emitting from them. He then rose from the ground, and turned to her partially, his eyes shining with fury - he wasn't going to let that unpunished - while he raised one paw to call out three sets of lightning strikes, which Alter!Tori avoided by teleporting in flashes of fire. **'Stay still you little-'** he was growling mentally when she appeared in front of him and punched him with a fiery paw, burning his fur in that spot.

"sucks to be you, that fur won't be growing back too soon~" she giggled casually as the jaguar looked at her, still pissed.

"You... **YOU WON'T BE GETTING OUT HERE ALIVE!** " Shamir roared towards her as he charged up his blades, aiming to hit her full force with the Jaguar's Fury.

He wasn't going to let her just walk over him like that - he didn't allow anyone to walk over him like that, well, except his mother - but **this monster** , no matter how much of a look-like it was to his mother...wasn't in the slightest a friendly one. And plus to that, she was standing in his way, in the way of the Royal Guard, in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams - and that little human critter wasn't helping things out.

Alter!Frisk looked at the sheer ferocity the jaguar displayed - while he wasn't a weak monster, he was certainly confused - Tori was right, he didn't know what was going on in here, but he also refused to listen to anything she had to say.

What kind of monster was he, exactly?...and why was her MERCY ineffective on this one?

She then listened in to what Tori had to say, as the latter surprised the jaguar by teleporting insanely closer to him. "i see that look in your eyes. you're trying to get your mojo back. your cred back. your honor back. i want you to listen VERY carefully to the next words i say."

Shamir feels an intense amount of frightening intent around him, as he turns around. Alter!Toriel's paw was an inch from his face. Her own face was blank, her sclera were black, her eyes flaming yellow, and her overall expression was filled with terrifying coldness, colder than all of Snowdin.

"Your honor...your pride...your power...none of those things matter to me. All that matters...is that you're trying to kill my friend. And I find that action...intolerable." Those we're the last words she uttered before an intense fire blast engulfed his entire body, and she hopped up slightly to kick him a long distance away, so he looked like a flaming comet until he harshly hits a boulder, stopping his momentum and doing insane amounts of damage from the flames and the impact.

He was knocked down unconsciously, looking dreadfully charred.

And Alter!Toriel looked at him, almost in pity, while she held tight Alter!Frisk's hand, and could only utter these words.

"i jus' hope that he wakes up with a clearer head. if he doesn't...i won't be holding back anymore."

And that's how the tale of Altershift ended, while Shamir's tale wasn't going to be over, for he was going to play a part in the unfolding events.

 **THE END.**

* * *

 **I want to say a huge thank you to Ben10extreme for inspiring me to write this story.**  
 **And I also want to thank you, lovely readers!**

 **This was the tale of Shamir's universe,** **and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did while writing it. :D**


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